5 years ago, I tearfully said goodbye to the life in education that I knew and jumped into the abyss. It sounds unduly dramatic, but that’s how it felt for me. I had spent 22 years of teaching in the independent day school system, and I had no real idea where I was going. I was sure of only 3 things: I couldn't stay where I was, I wanted to be in the classroom, and I wanted to do more in education than only be in the classroom. Fast forward, and I am a part time teacher in a public school board in Ontario, I have an active consulting practice where I have worked with boards, organizations, private schools, and communities. I co-founded The Mentoree and work with our leadership team to keep evolving what we do, and I have a successful children’s book that is making a difference for kids. I honestly have everything I dreamed of before I knew what it looked like. It takes a lot of work, and I’ve faced many disappointments along the way, but I feel very proud to be here and excited to reflect on these frightening and fantastic five years.
If you read my post about gatekeepers, you know why I had to leave. I couldn’t grow anymore, and I didn’t have the support I needed to move forward. I had to change my context, but where was I going to go, and what was I going to do? I couldn’t envision what I wanted, but I held strong to the 3 things I knew. I remember the day of my interview with YRDSB (York Region District School Board). I was about to begin the written portion of the experience, and I emailed my Principal Qualification Program (PQP) class and instructor, almost all of whom were from this board, and shared that I was hoping to become an occasional teacher (supply teacher, substitute teacher). It was a weird thing to do on many levels, but especially since they were all bound for formal leadership and here I was starting over. It was the only way I could see becoming the teacher I wanted to be and having time to build a consulting practice that would be fully functional by my retirement, 20 years from that time. I was sure it would take me many years to gain a permanent contract, and it was where I needed to start in order to reroute and root myself.
Even before I left the insular world in which I had been teaching, I had been presenting on my Building Outside the Blocks projects in a lot of places. It started with an Independent School Association event and blossomed to a series of presentations through mine and other IB schools. After having my approach published in Canadian Teacher Magazine, I found the confidence to apply to what became a very memorable opportunity: getting accepted to present on BOBs at QUEST 2016. It was a great experience and the final push I needed to choose YRDSB for my next steps.
I was very lucky from the start. On my 11th day of being an occasional teacher, I became a LTO (long-term occasional). While I was in my second LTO, I had an idea to create a mentorship community for educators, and I was given a green light to fulfill that vision. I had been on the panel of OnEdMentors from its inception in 2017. I started helping Derek Rhodenizer, the original host, produce episodes, and then I became a secondary host for whenever Derek was busy or even randomly called away mid-episode. With the support of Stephen Hurley, who is the visionary behind voicEd and the audio producer of my weekly live show, I reached out to new acquaintances to start OnEdMentors Connect. We collaborated beautifully for a few years and then a few months after becoming The Mentoree, things changed quickly. I almost walked away from this wonderful work, and it was through the support of my family, Stephen Hurley, my mentor Karen Friedman, friends like Evin Schwartz and Jen Giffen, and our leadership team of Teri Rubinoff and Christine Chin who gave me the courage to continue. The Mentoree has grown and evolved. In our final reflective episode of the school calendar year, The Mentoree: A Year in Re-view, we realized how much we had achieved, despite the pandemic that challenged so man of us to our cores. Here are a few highlights we shared on the episode:
Adding a community hub to our website
Building a self directed database of Mentors and Mentees (only accessible to members)- so they can find and connect with each other
Launching MPact as an interactive, responsive, and personalizing 3-part learning experience. Leadership from Mentors have included:
Embedding an Anti-Racist Approach in Your Teaching Practice with Dr. Rashmee Karnad Jani
Dreaming Destreaming with Melanie White
More Mpacts and a lot on the horizon for the Fall
We’ve widened Conversations to Build Capacity to include: Casual Conversation - a monthly drop in with Dr. Teri Rubinoff, and Carousel of Conversation such as the upcoming Navigating the Admin Process
Launching Motivators- Therese Meikel’s Embodied Teaching- Clarity and Compassion in the Classroom and Karen Friedman’s Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Promotion Process But Were afraid to Ask
Hosting a variety of great episodes worth catching on OnEdMentors with a new panel of educators each week, and a new addition to the team. We did a lot, and I am proud to have The Mentoree as an offering to educators and any and every stage of their careers.
After completing two back-to-back LTO’s in my first year at the YRDSB, I was eligible for an evaluation that would make me hireable as a permanent contract teacher. I became a Grade 8 teacher mid-interview, and I was tasked with making one of my BOB projects a school-wide event. During that first contract year, I was also invited to become a board member of Learning Forward Ontario full of illustrious formal leaders in education from whom I had been learning through the board’s events. I was humbled and happy to join the team. Crazy enough, my PQP instructor and my mentor are now on the board, too.
From local to global, face to face to virtual, I have been glad to be able to share the high yielding projects and approach that I use with my students and have developed over my career. I love when I get invited to present at things like the upcoming Not Just a Green Screen Summit where I am as excited to learn from the other presenters as I am to share. I haven't built a new BOB project in 2 years because I have been busy building my vision for Strum and The Wild Turkeys, but I always evolve my BOBs to integrate them through multiple subjects and to meet the needs of the learners in my care. My students experience 5-8 BOBs each school year, and they love them so much.
When I was first asked to write a book about a real world occurrence of a lost peacock who was found a year later leading a pack of wild turkeys, I was intrigued but unavailable. I had been working on my TED Talk forTEDx KitchenerEdI had originally said no to this commission project because I had been focused on TEDx KitchenerEd, which was scheduled for September 2019. When it was postponed to February 2020, I reached out to the brothers who had made me that original offer and told them that my schedule had been freed up. The topic of music was on my mind, as it was the theme of my talk, and I believe it was why I discovered the story that would connect a peacock and a pack of wild turkeys. Once I wrote the story, I knew it needed to be in classrooms. It was originally intended for visitors to the brothers’ ranch, but they let me send it into a publisher. Edumatch said yes, and this story became a vibrant published picture book through the talent of Alana McCarthy, the artist illustrator who became my partner.
I've had to read this book to kids around the world, and people gravitate to this book for beautiful reasons. Thanks to friends like Ilene Winokur and Marialice Curran, and others, I've had incredible opportunities. I was given the chance to read this book to kids in Ukraine after the outset of the war, and I have supported community groups and organizations that help marginalized children access books. Another organization who runs group homes has booked me for visits, and a plethora of opportunities to share and impact kids of all ages have come my way. A few months back, a friend wrote to me that a child they knew who was transitioning was feeling alone and she needed my book. I sent it immediately. The responses are reason enough to stand behind this book, and so many kids have connected to it. I love this story, its characters, and its themes of inclusion and belonging, and I love that I get to do cool things with it.
Through writing this book, I have tapped into so many parts of my creativity. My first song from the book is coming out on a new album from a Juno-nominated kids duo, Sonshine and Broccoli, and I am writing songs for each new story that I imagine for the series. I was not a songwriter, but now I am. Strum and The Wild Turkeys is even getting translated into French. This book has given me a place to share this special protagonist- a peacock with an imperfect plume who becomes the lead singer of The Wild Turkeys and strums his way into the hearts and minds of readers again and again. I have a Strum affixed to the wall behind my desk, and I turn to him for inspiration often. He helps me feel safe to be myself and to celebrate that things that make me unique.
5 years ago, I only knew three things, and I was leaping way outside my comfort zone. Now, I have found grounding in 3 things I have created under the umbrella of Building Outside the Blocks. The agency and autonomy that I feel has been worth every heartache and all the worry, though it’s not something I’d wish on others. Wherever the next 5 years takes me, I know that I will discover my own path and find the support I need along the way. I could never have done this without my family and the many incredible colleagues, acquaintances, and friends who have been there for me at every turn and road block. I am hopeful that the next half decade is a touch less frightening but equally fantastic.
