The gifts of Education: Creativity

I am both sad and incredibly excited to share that I have decided to leave the K-12 education system and pursue other opportunities that allow me to use the many skills I have gained over the past twelve+ years. As I seek my next adventure, it felt important to reflect on how education has shaped me both professionally and personally. My hope is to write a series of these posts to both hold the past dear to my heart while opening up to the possibilities ahead. 

Gift #1: Creativity

As a math major, I never considered myself a creative person. I had always assumed that because I was drawn to challenging problems and rational arguments that my life was destined for dullness. It wasn't until I had my own classroom space that my flourish for mixing fashion with function was discovered. I developed a color-coding system in my classroom that organized all spaces in my room by class period. I used vibrant, bold markers to illustrate challenging mathematical concepts onto large poster paper and hung them all over our walls. Once, a district-level observer came into my classroom and asked if I used to be an elementary school teacher - because they had never seen such a welcoming and bright math classroom. My activities were unique and engaging and I felt like a performer as I balanced my math lessons with stories and jokes that drew students in to the content. It was electric.

This sidewalk chalk activity for my math classroom was typical for my love of unique ideas and and colorful illustrations.

I created a fictional Department of Magical Student to present a onboarding system I created. We walked through the process of supporting Hermione Granger with her new role.

It turned out that physical creativity was only the beginning. As I dove deep into edtech, I was able to explore this side on a completely different level. I thrived on that challenge of creating unique digital content that made my master's degree in instructional technology one of the most thrilling educational experience of all time. There were many times where I couldn't wait to work on my class projects and apply everything I had learned to help my students and colleagues. This eventually led me to a role as a professional learning specialist, where I delighted in both creating my own content as well as collaborate with others to create unique learning experiences for adults. It was at this time that I finally accepted my new identity as a creative person. 

It was hard to ignore the fact by this point - I mostly created content for a living and started coloring my hair with bold, bright colors to match my love for elegant and eye-catching designs. Whether I had always been a creative person and didn't know it or education had brought out my creative side, I am incredibly grateful that I was able to cultivate this part of myself. It has brought so much joy to my work and my life and I can't imagine not having this core part of my identity. ​

Thank you for reading my first post of this series. It feels good to blog again and use this platform as a means for reflection. I hope you'll join me for my upcoming posts, where I plan to reflect on the ways that my work in education has gifted me with strengths in relationship-building, collaboration, systems-design, communication, and more.