Comfort Zone: A Reflection #doctoralpursuit

We are at the end of July. The summer is almost over. It has been a whirlwind of excitement, learning, and work. I have been totally out of my comfort zone and have loved every bit of it. As I transition into preparing for the 2019-2020 school year, I consider this a good time to stop and reflect on the pursuit so far.

I have finished my coursework, made it through with only one B, and have met with my advisor to set a plan for Comprehensive Exam preparations.  I have made steps towards forming a study group and soon we will met to study. I have been on my new job for 3 months. These months have been a review and crash course in all things literacy kindergarten through 5th grade.
In the past 3 months, I have been able to meld the old job and my experience from that with the new job in the places that fit and have learned new skills that will take me even further. I am learning to work with a team and not in isolation, and at the same time I am responsible for my own group of teachers. There are places where my experiences and studies have been a real benefit and there are places that I have had to take a step back and learn something new.
My summer has been busy with my studies for work and for school and with preparations for facilitating the training of the teachers in my cohort and other teachers that are a part of the READ Grant Reading Academies. Here is what I have learned this summer.

• What I know about adult learners is very helpful
  
• My years of classroom experience mattered to other educators
  
• It is okay to not know everything as long as you are open to learn it
  
• Transparency makes you human and accessible to others
  
• Building relationships and making connections matters
  
• Moving outside your comfort zone is truly where the magic happens
  

I stepped out of my comfort zone to gain some valuable, life changing experience.  I like to say that every experience in this next year will be a resume builder. I am not certain of what the future holds — which is scary in itself — but I do know that each day has its own possibilities and everything I learn, every person I meet, and every place I go are both a lessons and a blessings as I continue this doctoral pursuit.

Thank you for reading...

 

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