Back in 2021? I was done. Not burned out exactly. Demoralized. There’s a difference. I wrote about it then. Demoralization happens when the work keeps fighting you. When you can’t enact the values that got you in the game.
The problems back then were loud. Visible. We were wrestling with online platforms. Trying to replicate services through screens. Trying to fix lost instructional time while also pretending social skills could be learned over Zoom. It was a mess.
Now? The challenges haven’t vanished. They’ve just gotten quieter. Harder for the public to see. A group of authors pointed out in 2024 that a crisis isn’t just the event. It’s the context. It’s the response.
A crisis is not merely an event: it’s the context in which the event takes place.
The pandemic ended. Did the context shift? Did the response actually help? I’m skeptical.
Teaching matters. Maybe more than ever. The world is chaotic. So what do we do? We help kids claim their humanity. We help adults remember why community matters. Five years out I’m circling back.
I’m bringing a sharper focus now. An older saying goes: It takes a village. Fine. But schools are that village. We are the villagers.
It’s not just principals and teachers. Look closer. Who actually builds the feeling of belonging? It’s the child welfare staff. The paraprofessionals. The campus supervisors. The cafeteria workers. Custodians. Coaches. Librarians. Secretaries. List them if you want. It feels necessary to name them. They are the backbone. They show students they matter.
This requires effort. Mutual respect can’t be an afterthought. It has to be the floor. The baseline.
As an instructional coach and leader? My job is to translate this. I need to tell teachers that society beats them down. Blames them for everything. But they still have to teach kids how to be human with each other. That’s the herculean lift.
In 2021 I felt beaten. In 2025 I’m revitalized.
Since joining the first Voices of Change fellowship cohort the work has exploded. Essays for The California Educator and Edutopia. Podcasts on SEL and civil discourse. I even started writing children’s books about my neurodivergent kids.
Writing changed something in me. It’s about representation. Advocacy.
Writing has helped me claim my voice my humanity and my power.
I keep speaking out. Conferences. Professional development. Advocating for educators. For students. For schools that model humanity. It’s not done yet. It rarely is. But we’re here.
