Why this sequence of courses is taking me SO long...

In 2010 I became a school librarian. After spending over a decade as a special educator, I was blissfully happy to have landed a job as a librarian. I had completed my masters degree and was ready to relax and enjoy this new gig. A year or two into this new job, I attended an alumni event and was introduced to a fellow Lyndon alum who was working as a school administrator. When I mentioned that I was working as a school librarian, he asked me if I had my tech integration endorsement and proceeded to tell me that his district only hires librarians with that endorsement. 

So... in 2013, I took "Inquiry and Technology". It was amazing and inspiring and a little bit overwhelming. I walked away with one of the best units that I've ever taught. 

In 2014, I took the next course in the sequence.  This course was called "Differentiating Instruction with Technology". It was also good. Then life started to interfere... in a good way.

In 2015, I got married. After many years of dating, I had finally met someone wonderful and we started our life together. Since I was 39 years old at the time, my parents were relieved to say the least. At the end of that year, we sold my condo and bought a house together.

In 2016, I had a baby. As I learned to juggle parenting and working full-time. I marveled at the people who had been in my masters cohort and were both working full-time and raising families. I knew at the time that what they were doing was impressive but now that I was doing it, they seemed superhuman. I juggled the guilt of being the first person to drop off at daycare every day and the last one to pick up. I felt like I should apologize every day and explain that I really did like my kid. Meanwhile, I was suddenly showing up just in time for work every morning, when I used to be the first car in the parking lot. Now I hit the ground running every day and seldom felt prepared. Plus, I was sleep-deprived. These were not my best years of teaching. 

In 2017, I took my first class since becoming a mom. This time, instead of taking a tech integration course I took a Mindfulness course that some of my coworkers were taking. It was a great way to ease back into classwork. It was not a lot of work, it provided 3 credits, and it felt like group therapy with the number of  moms with young children who were taking the course together. I also walked away with some things that I could incorporate into my teaching, which is my biggest measure of a good class. 

In 2018, I did the Create Make Learn Summer Institute for credit. This was not in the sequence but similarly provided me with some great tools to help bring a MakerSpace to my school. I was getting back on track. I was venturing back towards working toward my endorsement. 

Then in the summer of 2019, we traveled to Nashville for my best friend's wedding. I was co-matron of honor and my son was the ringbearer. In the middle of the ceremony, I collapsed. Look on the ground next to the bride and you will see me, smiling up at the bride. Shortly after this picture, I took my first ambulance ride. When I was unable to walk out or to answer many questions, the doctor at the wedding suggested that they call. At the ER, I was diagnosed with a colloid cyst, a rare benign cyst on my brain. I spent a week and a half in the ICU, awaiting and recovering from a craniotomy. I had to stay in Nashville until my staples could be removed but got back to Vermont just in time to start back to school. My coworkers were shocked when I showed up for the first day of in-service, sporting a thick headband to cover the bad haircut my surgeon gave me.

In the fall of 2019, not long after returning to school I decided to get my first mammogram to reassure myself that I was healthy. I no longer had the confidence in my health that I had once had. Good thing too! On New Year's Eve, I got the call telling me that I had breast cancer. 

So, after learning that my treatment was going to include surgery, followed by weekly chemo, followed by daily radiation, I decided to go out on medical leave in February of 2020.  My colleagues surprised me by showing up all in pink on my last day before taking a medical leave. It was very sweet. Don't tell them that I hate the color pink, ok?

My plan for a medical leave that was all about self-care was botched when the world shut down in March of 2020 and I pulled my child from daycare just before the daycare actually shut down. Here is a family picture that we had taken shortly after I finished chemo. The cat in my lap is Bogart. We just lost him in December of 2022 at 19 years old. We are on the lookout for another cat but that cat will have some big shoes to fill.

I took my third course in the sequence in the summer of 2021.  I am back on track... I think.