I'm Back!

It's been an embarrassingly long amount of time since I've blogged, but I'm ready to be back! My absence was for a good reason.  I started this blog in the fall of 2010 because I wanted a place where I could share what I was doing in the classroom.  I was excited to be blogging about education and I felt that blogging inspired me to be more intentional about learning/refining my craft.  However, all of this came to a screeching halt when I found out I was pregnant and battled major morning all day sickness for weeks.  I literally mustered all my strength just to make it through each lesson and basketball practice (coaching through this was no fun!) for that first trimester.  

Fast forward months later and on July 22, 2011 Everett Thomas Meyer was born!  He's such a fun baby. I love being his mom.  And I think I'm learning that having a baby while juggling my career brings this concept of being a "utility player" to a whole new level.  

After my maternity leave I returned to Korea with Everett and jumped back into the classroom at the end of September.  I'm a part time teacher right now but I still teach a considerable load.  I'm teaching a 9th grade IB MYP World History, two classes of 10th grade US History, and one IB Standard Level History for 11th graders.  I elected not to coach basketball this year so I can focus on my family and my classes, but I'm still sponsoring the Global Issues Network (GIN) club once a week after school.  We have daycare at our school so Everett comes to school with my husband and I and in between classes I get to take care of our little man. Life is busy, but life is full.  

I'm excited to be sharing more about all that we're doing this school year!

the vision

Growing up I was constantly playing sports.  I literally spent all my free time playing on some sort of competitive team, and as I look back on that time of my life I can honestly say that I learned so many great life lessons from my time as an athlete.  One of those lessons was that being a utility player has its advantages. 

Early on in my athletic career I struggled because I never felt like I was great at any one thing.  I felt like I was an all around good basketball player, but I was never the fastest kid, the tallest player, or biggest scorer.  When I played softball I was not known for being "the best" shortstop; rather I played almost every position throughout my short career.  In an effort to show transparency I must admit that I'm an overachiever to the core, so this sense of never being "the best"or having a "specialty" really nagged at me.  I felt like I was never good enough. I was incomplete, dare I say, even a failure.  

Then one day it dawned on me....Maybe not having just one specialty or focus is okay. In fact, maybe it's even a good thing!  I slowly realized that because I developed a variety of skills that I was good at (even though I may not have been "the best") I got to become a central part of my team.  I began to notice that I was a utility player; I was a person that could play many roles with a sense of competence.  I could effectively play numerous positions or perform a variety of skills, and as a result, I was able receive a lot of playing time on the court and offer substantial contributions to the successes of my team.  

Now here I am, years removed from my athletic days, and this concept of being a utility player still seems relevant in my life.  This is my third year as a high school social studies teacher at an international school in South Korea.  I love teaching and blogging (see my personal blog here) and after getting some experience under my belt in both arenas I have decided that I want to contribute to the conversation of how to be an educator in the 21st Century.  However, as I have been mulling over this idea to start a professional blog I have felt discouraged because if I am going to start a blog I need some "thing" to blog about.  In order to make a worthy contribution to my field I need to be an expert at something like history, technology, or educational pedagogy.  And I am not an expert.  I am not "the best" at any one educational topic so it seemed that the idea having my own professional blog would be an impossibility. 

Then it dawned on me. I may not be an expert on one facet of education but I have a little bit to say about a variety of educational topics.  I realized that as a teacher I am a utility player and that can be a great thing.  Teachers are, to some extent, forced to be a jack-of-all-trades.  As a teacher I must demonstrate proficiency in being a communicator, researcher, technological leader, club sponsor, coach, lesson planner, collaborator, listener...the list could go on.  Teachers are by nature utility players in school communities.   So instead of doing a blog about one thing I've decided to make this blog about the all different facets of education that I get to participate in.  At times this blog may seem disjointed or scattered and I am okay with that.  Being a teacher is about juggling numerous ideas, activities, and interests, and I'm excited to share some of my musings and experiences in my various roles as a educator in the 21st Century.