Teacher Jargon Update

One hundred and ninety six days since my last post. That’s quite a substantial amount of time that has passed. So, before diving into more posts about grading, seating charts, or classroom management, I thought I would tell you where I’ve been. 

When I revived Teacher Jargon, I had just started the process of becoming an Abydos Writing trainer. If you’ve never heard of Abydos, I encourage you to check out Acts of Teaching by Dr. Joyce Armstrong Carroll. Dr. Carroll and her husband Edward Wilson founded Abydos, formerly the New Jersey Writing Project, to help teachers become better writing instructors. In the summer of 2021, I participated in a three week intensive writing institute organized and led by experienced Abydos trainers. What I knew about teaching writing was reinforced and enriched, and I became interested in sharing these newfound strategies with others. To do that, I had to become a trainer. And that is no easy feat. The process involves reading thirty different texts covering topics ranging from psychological theory like Lev Vygotsky’s Thought and Language to the science of teaching reading. Trainees must also summarize and reflect upon these texts. While I tried to keep up Teacher Jargon and complete my readings and summaries, I ultimately could not do it all. Something had to give. So, I quit blogging and podcasting. I can say proudly, though, that I have completed all my readings and summaries. I have one step left in the process to become an Abydos trainer; I must present an Abydos lesson to Abydos trainers in September. Once I’ve received their approval, I will officially cross that goal off my list. 

In addition to becoming an Abydos trainer (hopefully soon), I transitioned into a new role. I am no longer a classroom teacher; I am now a multi-classroom leader on my campus. For those of you who may not be familiar with that terminology, a multi-classroom leader (MCL) is essentially an instructional coach. I will be working with the ELAR teachers at my campus. I’m thankful for the opportunity to move into this position at a campus I feel so attached to, and I’m eager to impact the lives of my students in a different way now. Additionally, in my ample amount of free time (sarcasm), I’m acting as an educational consultant for a non-profit organization that works primarily with newcomer students. Both of these roles give me the opportunity to challenge myself in new ways. I love education; I love being a teacher. I may have left the classroom as a teacher of record, but I hope to work in classrooms for many more years to come.

So, that’s where I’ve been, and as you can probably infer, my life is just as busy as it has always been. I wish I could guarantee that blog posts and podcast episodes would be released on a set schedule, but the reality is that I don’t know what that schedule is. My goal is to release content at least once per month. To those of you who have followed me for a while, I appreciate your continued support. For those of you just discovering Teacher Jargon, I hope that my content can be a resource for you. I encourage everyone to follow me on social media so that you receive alerts whenever I’ve posted something new. 

Until next time, be bold and be brave!