On yer mark... Get Ready...
Tomorrow's the first day of school!
I thought I’d be working tech until I died. The last few years, however, have been challenging for those of us swimming in the tech ocean, even for the Mark Spitzes I have known, let alone for those, like me, who doggie paddled well enough. My person (bear with me while I figure out how much I am sharing on here) told me to follow my dreams instead of following thousands of people on LinkedIn, and many friends and family members agreed with him that I’d be foolish not to, so here I am, back in school and back in school:
I start class tomorrow at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, in the hope of becoming a high school English teacher by obtaining a California Preliminary Teaching Credential through San Diego Teacher Residency, and a Master’s degree in Teaching & Learning.
Toward the end of August, I will join my mentor teacher in their classroom for the 2025/26 school year (the residency part of the program listed above).
I am less anxious about the coursework, to be honest… Or perhaps I should say, I am familiarly anxious about the coursework, while I am not sure how to be anxious about teaching. I am sure that I will learn the right ways to be anxious before the first week of class is done.
I want to share a few things that are keeping me level, and even eager (alongside all the other emotions) as I head off to bed. The first is something I have been using to pump myself up and chase away worry whenever I start a new adventure, big or small. I even have the text of OG internet creator Ze Frank’s “Invocation for Beginnings” as a poster on my office wall:
I also want to leave here, as a reminder and a silly show of gratitude, this comic, representative of how lucky and happy I am to have people cheering me on, checking in on me, and confident in my abilities. I am a fortunate person, and I know it. I will do my best to return the love and support to you all.
Here we go, Cohort 8! We’ve got this!