My conscience wouldn’t let me quit. But then the choice was made for me. — Let me get this out of the way: I didn’t want to go back. I didn’t want to return to in-person school for myriad reasons, but the first few are what I consider “personal.” I have asthma and suffer from ear, nose, and throat allergies year-round. I am partnered to…

A self-reflection tool for early childhood educators and providers This month I will finish a project that included developing four professional trainings on equity in the early childhood classroom. During this project, I struggled to find an easy-to-use checklist or observation tool that could help educators design their classrooms and…

Friends and family continue to ask me why I’m not teaching. This is my response. In 2006, the summer after I graduated high school, I took a job teaching a classroom full of toddlers. As an assistant teacher, I made $8.00 an hour and was tasked with setting up the…

Practical advice on moving abroad — Congratulations. You did the research, you came prepared, and now you’re waking up in an unfamiliar location at an odd hour in a new bed. This is when things get real, and when you must remember the third piece of advice; be patient. Be patient Take three deep breaths. You just packed…

Practical advice on moving abroad You’ve done the research and decided you are definitely moving to a new country; you’ve figured out logistics, finances, housing, transportation, and maybe even employment. While the internet has a ton of information, you are unsure how to prepare for such a big move. Here…

Practical advice on moving abroad. If you are moving to a new country, or even just considering it, you might be feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to start. While every individual situation is unique, here are the three pieces of advice I offer when someone asks me how to move…

An essay on transience In 1997, when I was nine years old, my family moved across the country from Oklahoma to Ohio. We left behind the first house I remember, where my parents had planted grass in the backyard and installed a swing on the front porch and taught me…

When the street feels like enemy territory — Four weeks ago, my husband and I officially moved to Casablanca, Morocco. In the months before we came, we were constantly asked how we felt about the treatment of women in Morocco and if we were nervous about acclimating to a society so different than the U.S. and Thailand, the…

If you are an American educator, consider taking your talents abroad Last year my husband and I moved to Bangkok to work as international school teachers. We discovered, like many before us, a world where teachers are valued and respected much more than they are in the American public school…