No more doubting it...
Never compromise a dream. Do what you must. The fears, beasts, and mountains before you are part of the plan. Stepping stones to a promised land. To a time and place that is so much closer than even you expect. So don't let your eyes deceive you, for even as you read these words, your ship swiftly approaches…
Mike Dooley
After sharing the 2nd dream here, doubt started to creep in. I tend to get wrapped up in the logistics of things, and I know that isn't the way to manifest, so...I'm going to share with you about a dream that I did manifest this year, as a way to switch gears and rememeber that anything is possible.
Soon after graduating college in April of 2005, I submitted dozens of resumes to schools all over the state of Oklahoma. I was wide open to the possibility- any town, any school, any grade. I just wanted to finally, after years of dreaming about it, get to work on my very own classroom. May, June, and July passed without a single phone call. I started to get antsy.
Then, in August, the floodgates opened. Three weeks before school was to begin, I had eleven interviews spread out all over the state. After ten successful interviews (and job offers), I began to question whether or not I should go to the eleventh. I already had several options to choose from, and I had no idea which one I wanted. However, I was on a roll, and I was already dressed for it (having just finished #10), so I went for it.
After getting lost on the way there, I pulled into the parking lot of a tiny country school. I could hear cows mooing from the pasture next door, and being a country girl at heart, I was smitten. After having interviewed in front of committees and some very uptight principals already that week, I was thrilled when the principal here left the door open, walked around her desk, and pulled up a chair next to mine. We chatted for a few minutes, she skimmed over my portfolio, then she asked if I wanted a tour of the school. Giddy, I said yes, but already my heart had told me this was the place for me.
And oh, it was. The people I met at RH were some of the best people on the planet. I immediately clicked with the staff, and soon we went from being co-workers to close friends. I fell in love with families, the students, the laid-back "treat you like we've known you for years" attitude.
It was also a huge challenge, one that excited me immensely. I was given big responsibilities right off the bat- rewriting the report card, teaching a classroom full of kids to read without a real reading curriculum, planning kindergarten graduation. But everywhere I went, there were good people helping me out even before I could ask. Parents and grandparents cleaned my classroom, decorated bulletin boards, copied papers, tutored my students. I was never alone.
I wish I had a "before" snapshot, but this little classroom is where it all began for me. This, of course, is after many, many hours of sweat, laughter, and tears (oh, and a few beers snuck in by my favorite janitor...shh).
Then, after three absolutely amazing years at this place that felt like home, I felt something in my heart. I was so grateful for my time at RH, but I knew something else was calling my name. Having been given time to grow my wings, I was ready to experience something bigger. I wanted to both learn how to nurture a child's spirit in the classroom, and I wanted a place to do it where the kids really needed me. (Looking back, I am quite convinced that the precious little souls at RH taught me infinitely more than I taught them.)
During my first year at RH, I worked with another first-year teacher named Tiffany. She became my teacher buddy- the girl with whom I could laugh, cry, vent, and share margaritas. She left RH after that first year to move to another school in town. I visited her there once, and I was a bit jealous of her fabulous (and HUGE) classroom.
Fast forward to 2008. I went to a job fair, and there I met the woman who would become my new boss. We hit it off instantly, and we took our conversation to a private room where we could really talk. It was apparent from that first conversation that we both wanted the same thing for children. I had butterflies when I left, but deep down, I knew the job already had my name on it.
After another interview with her at the school, it was official- I got the job. Soon after, I found out that I was being sent to the Responsive Classroom Institute, which was THE PERFECT answer to the prayer I had sent up to the Universe months before. By following my heart, without knowing the why's or the how's, I ended up in a Responsive Classroom school, one of only a handful in the state.
When I walked into my classroom for the first time, I had a bit of a flashback. Wait...this can't be...yep, it was Tiffany's old classroom, the one I had admired a few years before. When I had pictured my dream classroom in my mind, it was always this one.
However. It looked slightly different than I remembered...
Ah well. Fueled by my amazing week at the institute, I got to work making my dream come to life. And boy, it did. After a little more sweat, tears, laughter, Sonic Dr. Peppers, and the help of my dear friend Melba, here was the final product, my very own kindergarten wonderland.
The pictures are fabulous (if I do say so myself), but they don't tell the whole story. What you don't see is a supportive principal who understands early childhood education, two amazing co-workers with whom I share laughs every single day, the ridiculously amazing students I am so priviledged to spend my days with, the families who are incredibly grateful for every single thing I do, and the grants that total strangers keep funding to buy even more amazing things for my kiddos. And the best thing of all- children whose spirits are being nurtured, who are learning how to honor themselves and problem solve with their friends, who are figuring out that they hold a very special place in this world and in my heart.
So enough of this dream-doubting silliness. I walk in the doors every day to a very real dream come true. My dreams are coming true in this moment because I declare it so!
Mike Dooley
After sharing the 2nd dream here, doubt started to creep in. I tend to get wrapped up in the logistics of things, and I know that isn't the way to manifest, so...I'm going to share with you about a dream that I did manifest this year, as a way to switch gears and rememeber that anything is possible.
Soon after graduating college in April of 2005, I submitted dozens of resumes to schools all over the state of Oklahoma. I was wide open to the possibility- any town, any school, any grade. I just wanted to finally, after years of dreaming about it, get to work on my very own classroom. May, June, and July passed without a single phone call. I started to get antsy.
Then, in August, the floodgates opened. Three weeks before school was to begin, I had eleven interviews spread out all over the state. After ten successful interviews (and job offers), I began to question whether or not I should go to the eleventh. I already had several options to choose from, and I had no idea which one I wanted. However, I was on a roll, and I was already dressed for it (having just finished #10), so I went for it.
After getting lost on the way there, I pulled into the parking lot of a tiny country school. I could hear cows mooing from the pasture next door, and being a country girl at heart, I was smitten. After having interviewed in front of committees and some very uptight principals already that week, I was thrilled when the principal here left the door open, walked around her desk, and pulled up a chair next to mine. We chatted for a few minutes, she skimmed over my portfolio, then she asked if I wanted a tour of the school. Giddy, I said yes, but already my heart had told me this was the place for me.
And oh, it was. The people I met at RH were some of the best people on the planet. I immediately clicked with the staff, and soon we went from being co-workers to close friends. I fell in love with families, the students, the laid-back "treat you like we've known you for years" attitude.
It was also a huge challenge, one that excited me immensely. I was given big responsibilities right off the bat- rewriting the report card, teaching a classroom full of kids to read without a real reading curriculum, planning kindergarten graduation. But everywhere I went, there were good people helping me out even before I could ask. Parents and grandparents cleaned my classroom, decorated bulletin boards, copied papers, tutored my students. I was never alone.
I wish I had a "before" snapshot, but this little classroom is where it all began for me. This, of course, is after many, many hours of sweat, laughter, and tears (oh, and a few beers snuck in by my favorite janitor...shh).
Then, after three absolutely amazing years at this place that felt like home, I felt something in my heart. I was so grateful for my time at RH, but I knew something else was calling my name. Having been given time to grow my wings, I was ready to experience something bigger. I wanted to both learn how to nurture a child's spirit in the classroom, and I wanted a place to do it where the kids really needed me. (Looking back, I am quite convinced that the precious little souls at RH taught me infinitely more than I taught them.)
During my first year at RH, I worked with another first-year teacher named Tiffany. She became my teacher buddy- the girl with whom I could laugh, cry, vent, and share margaritas. She left RH after that first year to move to another school in town. I visited her there once, and I was a bit jealous of her fabulous (and HUGE) classroom.
Fast forward to 2008. I went to a job fair, and there I met the woman who would become my new boss. We hit it off instantly, and we took our conversation to a private room where we could really talk. It was apparent from that first conversation that we both wanted the same thing for children. I had butterflies when I left, but deep down, I knew the job already had my name on it.
After another interview with her at the school, it was official- I got the job. Soon after, I found out that I was being sent to the Responsive Classroom Institute, which was THE PERFECT answer to the prayer I had sent up to the Universe months before. By following my heart, without knowing the why's or the how's, I ended up in a Responsive Classroom school, one of only a handful in the state.
When I walked into my classroom for the first time, I had a bit of a flashback. Wait...this can't be...yep, it was Tiffany's old classroom, the one I had admired a few years before. When I had pictured my dream classroom in my mind, it was always this one.
However. It looked slightly different than I remembered...
Ah well. Fueled by my amazing week at the institute, I got to work making my dream come to life. And boy, it did. After a little more sweat, tears, laughter, Sonic Dr. Peppers, and the help of my dear friend Melba, here was the final product, my very own kindergarten wonderland.
The pictures are fabulous (if I do say so myself), but they don't tell the whole story. What you don't see is a supportive principal who understands early childhood education, two amazing co-workers with whom I share laughs every single day, the ridiculously amazing students I am so priviledged to spend my days with, the families who are incredibly grateful for every single thing I do, and the grants that total strangers keep funding to buy even more amazing things for my kiddos. And the best thing of all- children whose spirits are being nurtured, who are learning how to honor themselves and problem solve with their friends, who are figuring out that they hold a very special place in this world and in my heart.
So enough of this dream-doubting silliness. I walk in the doors every day to a very real dream come true. My dreams are coming true in this moment because I declare it so!
posted by BlossomingSoul at
11:24 AM
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