My Very First Post!

A few months ago I assisted a Booktopia event in my middle school's auditorium with one of my classes. The author began his introduction by asking, "Do you know an adult that says he  or she will publish a book but never does anything about it?" Incredibly, my entire class "put me on the spot" as they say, and pointed to me. Although everyone in the auditorium laughed at this gesture, this was an "Aha!" moment for me. I had not realized that I had shared my dream of writing with my students and that I had not lived up to one of my goals.  After this moment, I decided not to be that adult that talks  about dreams they will never accomplish; therefore, I decided to start slowly by publishing this blog.

Although blog writing is not technically book publishing, at least it is a baby step towards one day becoming a published author. I thank my middle school students' innocence and brutal honesty for unknowingly giving me this much needed wake up call.

Aside from the reason stated above, my main reason for starting this blog is because I am boiling up with passion for my profession inside. I literally can't get my hands on enough professional books, blogs written by my colleagues around the world, conferences, etc.! I am always learning and on a constant journey for acquiring knowledge. One of the reasons I became a teacher is because I LOVE learning and am PASSIONATE about teaching. I hope that as you journey through this blog with me you too will be inspired to continue to grow as a professional.

Teachers are already surrounded by negative energy on a daily basis on the internet, media, by politicians, and yes, sadly, even within our workplace. My hope that this blog can be a spring of living  water for educators to be inspired, share their knowledge, experiences, and leave with a contagious positive energy for this amazing profession we call teaching.

I have decided to begin this teaching blog as an outlet and resource for educators worldwide to be inspired and ignite  their passion. Throughout my eight years of teaching, I  have had many ups and downs and have a  plethora of learning experiences. I hope to inspire others through a new  teaching technique, technological tool that can be applied today, or simply to help create a community of like-minded individuals that strive towards excellence in their profession and personal lives on a daily basis.

Although this blog will be mostly about teaching and the Language Arts classroom, I will also infuse it with posts of my personal life; after all, as passionate as we can be about our professions, our personal lives are what complete us  and inspire us in our professional lives. I have been teaching  middle school Language Arts in New Jersey, and have a loving husband and two amazing boys, Noah, 5 and Aaron, 3 that keep me busy but inspired  each day. Here we are celebrating Noah's 5th birthday this past January in school:

I also wanted to announce that just this past May I achieved my dream of having a Master of Science in Educational Technology  (yay!).

I hope to inspire others just as I am inspired each day by my colleagues all over the world through my school, other blogs, and professional articles and videos. Enjoy and always feel free to post your comments and suggestions!