Exciting News

Exciting News!! 

I am switching jobs in January. 

I'm so thrilled announce I'll be returning to my roots in January. I taught at Harshman Magnet Middle School from 2012 to 2014 and in many ways, it helped shape the teacher I am today. I'm thrilled to be returning to Harshman as a part-time teacher and part-time math instructional coach. 

Look at me in 2014, 38 weeks pregnant with my first child, with the Harshman Math Counts team I coached to the state competition.

Let me start by saying that I've really enjoyed my time in Lawrence Township at Lawrence North. I loved getting to teach high school (though my heart will forever be in middle school). I know my middle school teaching will be so much better now that I have a sense of where kids are going. I've grown a lot as a teacher over the last two years at LN and that's in part thanks to my coworkers and admin. I am still a LT parent and resident and am excited to continue to engage with the district in these roles. 

I wanted to explain in a little more detail some of the reason's I'm leaving mid-year to start this newest adventure. 

1. The Job! Harshman (and Mr. Jim Larkin) have created my dream job for me. I'll be teaching half time and coaching middle school math teachers half time. I can't wait to delve into the world of instructional coaching while grounding my coaching work in the classroom. I believe this will make me both a better teacher and (hopefully) a better instructional coach. I am thrilled that Mr. Larkin (who was not there when I left Harshman) is willing to take a chance on me by creating this role. 
2. The Harshman Way (School Culture): When I taught at Harshman 6 years ago, we had what we called, The Harshman Way. To me, that has always meant that we spend our time continually trying to improve what we do. Students become better students, athletes better athletes, principals better principals, and teachers better teachers, and all of us worked to become better humans. I didn't really matter as much where we started as how hard we worked to grow. I have never worked anywhere that internalized the growth mindset as well as Harshman. In the years since I've been there Harshman has made some big changes based on watching and learning from excellent middle schools around the nation. I love that Harshman is always asking, What are the best middle schools doing around the country, and can we do that? They've been willing to change the master schedule, create teams, create advisories, build in restorative justice practices. I'm pretty sure that the Harshman Way has continued and I can't wait to be a part of it again. 
3. The District: When I left Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) t was a district in transition. I have watched with some intense respect some of the recent decisions the district has made and it is time to come back home. IPS is still not perfect, but it increasingly feels like the district I want to be a part of. 
• Public Commitment to Equity and Hard Conversations about Race: Other districts talk about how they "value diversity." IPS (led by the a black woman for the first time) wants to have hard conversations that lead to systemic change. https://chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2019/06/28/indianapolis-public-schools-new-leader-wants-to-have-hard-conversations-about-race/
• Commitment to Immigrant Students. IPS continues to lead the state in its public willingness to pledge non-cooperation with ICE and in their work to create the state's first Newcomer Program. Props to Jessica Dunn for leading on this. 
• Commitment to Teachers: 5.5 years after making a decision to leave IPS because this wasn't there at the time, I feel like it is a completely different ball game. IPS just finalized a contract giving teachers up to 14% raises. (Much of this work is made possible by their willingness to pass tax increases locally in Indianapolis to fill in gaps left by the state's refusal to fund education). Those years of wage freezes for teachers should have never happened. But IPS is taking some major steps to try to right that wrong. 
4. The Hours: Harshman's school day ends at 2:30! Because I'll be done so much earlier, I'm going to enjoy a few more awake hours with my kids in the evening. I might not be on the same calendar as my son anymore, but I'll be on the same Daily Schedule! 

Leaving a school is always challenging and leaving mid-year is even more so. I'm looking for advice from all of you who walked this path before me. Coaches in particular, I want to know what helped you the most as you transitioned into the job. 

Stay tuned for more writing about my adventures in the classroom (and in instructional coaching.)