Why are you answering all of these questions?

Plain and simple - to get ideas out of my head and into the world. Sometimes my questions will be ones that I'm trying to find the answers to. At other times, my questions will be ones I ask myself or that I think would be interesting to babble on about. I don't know how often I'm going to do this but my goal is to put up some thoughts a few times a week. Maybe once, maybe more, only time will tell.

One aspect of this blog that I'm looking forward to is to use it as a roadmap of my journey as a teacher. I've been teaching for almost five years now and still feel like I'm just getting started. There are many strategies and techniques that I want to try in my classroom but I haven't attempted many of them for some reason (could be time management, fear, uncertainty, or a million others). I hope that I can use this platform as a way to find help and receive feedback on what I'm trying to do and improve my classroom and teaching in the process. I have been casually following some great educators on Twitter for the last year or so and it's finally time for me to jump in and take some chances at making what I do more enjoyable, engaging and rewarding.

Something else that I want to try is to merge my love of music, sports, current events and random information with my thoughts on education. I've always believed that there has to be a way to incorporate all of that into any class I teach (whether it was math, history, English, computers or whatever). I've seen examples of one idea or another work for some teachers and I just have to find a way to make it work for me.

Every now and then, I focus on certain artists or albums when I'm working or in the car. Lately, the album of choice has been Rise Against's Endgame and all throughout the songs they ask questions. The questions running through my head on a loop are:

"Do you care to be the layer of the bricks that seal your fate?
Or would you rather be the architect of what we might create?"

Each year I start off with high expectations and grand plans for making these changes. Unfortunately, at some point, I end up taking the "safe route," fall back onto what I've done before, and eventually wonder why I didn't get to where I wanted to be. Even though June is closing in fast, this might be the perfect time to start getting my ideas together for what I want to try to do in September and beyond.

Wish me luck!