In this episode, I share my teaching story and experiences with burnout. I also share with you some things that are coming up in the next few days of the BIT Podcast.
Professionally:
-
I’ve taught for 12 years in Public Education
-
Started my career back in 2007 in a rural, high-poverty, high diversity school corporation
-
2015 became an Executive Director at a local non-profit organization
-
Moved to a different school corporation in 2015 - still rural, high-poverty
-
Currently a Full-Time Google Trainer and EdTech Consultant, traveling around to different schools, teaching them to use EdTech to enhance teachers’ teaching and students’ learning
My story is a rollercoaster of highs and lows:
-
My first two years were really hard, as I was viewed as a nuisance and ‘bossy’ by my team when I was simply excited to share new ideas and things that I wanted to try in my classroom
-
My mentor and principal were not very supportive of my situation and I felt alone and isolated
-
Things changed in year 3 when I was moved to second grade and got along wonderfully with my colleagues and realized the power of friendship among teachers - I experienced the same type of experience when I moved to third grade
-
By the middle of my third year teaching third grade (now Grade Level Leader as well) I was feeling severe burnout and decided that I needed to make a change immediately (in the middle of the school year)
-
Became the Executive Director of local non-profit, which closed six months later, because of financial issues
-
Hired by a new school district, but very stuck and burned-out again, because my talents were not realized or recognized
-
Became extremely BURNED-IN during an EdTech Team Google Summit and decided to go all out and become a Certified Educator, Trainer, and Innovator - Created BURNED-IN Teacher on my way home
-
Began blogging about burnout and using EdTech in my classroom
-
Became a Google Innovator, using Burned-In Teacher as my project
-
Left the classroom to fulfill my dream of turning Burned-In Teacher into a community, consult full-time, and do things like the BIT Podcast to bring more teachers together
