I'm a teacher, but I don't teach in a holding pen, a place you may know as a school, because I believe in humans being educated, not schooled.

I wish I had a magic wand to turn this heartbreaking but very real truth around... I left the classroom after 18 years but did not leave education... Education is in my blood... I thrive on obtaining new knowledge and honing my art and science of teaching craft. I left because... I want to teach with fidelity using scientifically proven and years of evidenced-based results to grow student learning, autonomy, and confidence while creating a socially, emotionally sound, and educationally sound learning environment. The problem was that I had to draw the line between being devalued and insulted professionally and being gaslighted for advocating for best practices and inclusive classrooms where children grow and thrive. Why was I gaslighted? My theory is that I'm an out-of-the-box thinker who seeks feedback from students and includes their voices and choices in their personalized learning pathway while holding high expectations through a nontraditional student-centered philosophy and with exceptional results! The kids are not the problem. The adults must take off their fixed mindset hat, put on their growth mindset hat, and be the adults ALL kids deserve. One teacher can only bleed so much for her students before the bandaid falls off. I knew leaving the classroom wasn't the end of teaching for me. Still, it was an opportunity to open doors to being a more vocal and in-person advocate for knowing better and doing better education practices. Enough is enough - we live in a nation of educational malpractice and literacy civil injustice. My courage to speak is the wisdom I need to continue educating, advocating, and illuminating why we have a teacher shortage!

All of the teacher shortages can be fixed. Increasing teacher pay is a step in the right direction. Still, until cultural perceptions about teaching change, those with power will not place the necessary (and monetary) value on education needed to fix the problems. Teachers are often just as educated, trained, and skilled as engineers and lawyers. We need to start treating them that way. How can we together reimagine a place you may know as a school to be a place humans want to be?