Day 9-Project Confidence Dreams

Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care).

Wow this a big one!

I would have to say my biggest accomplishment in my career would be presenting at AMLE 2013.  Looking at me now today, you would not think this was biggest accomplishment, considering that I am presenting again at AMLE 2014.  Not only was AMLE 2013 my biggest accomplishment in teaching but in my personal life as well.

One year ago I was a completely different person.  I lacked confidence in myself and needed constant reassurance.  I had a person in my life that fed off this dependency and used it for his/her personal gain. I was told I was good teacher (students, parents, principal, other educators) but I would brush it off and just think they were being nice.  This person had helped with lesson plans,curriculum ideas, strategies and techniques and that was why I was good teacher, not because of my abilities.  I could not believe that I could be success in my career without this person being with me.  We had made plans, big dreams: start an education consulting firm, travel the word, publish books and become famous together.  This person pushed me into the mindset that none of my dreams would come without them. In March of 2013 our first step in making big happen, this person and I were selected to present at AMLE 2013 together.  Again it was this person, I did not believe that this selection, this honor, had anything to do me.  Then 3 months before the conference with an unwritten presentation, I broke all ties with this person. I was lost, I didn’t know what to do, personally and professionally.  We had big goals, big dreams, I didn’t think it was possible without this person in my life.   

With the loving support of my husband, the devotion of my parents and my principal being my loudest cheerleader, I pushed forward. I became determined that I was going to present at AMLE 2013, alone.  And I did, and I rocked.  The best moment was I was standing in the hallway talking to another presenter, Jack Berckemeyer, a bestselling author and an Educational Celebrity. A group of educators came up to us, thinking they wanted to speak to Jack, I said goodbye to him and walked away.  These educators stopped me, they wanted to talk me, not to Jack.  I did it, I succeeded! I met so many people that like me for ME, not because I was friends with someone.  The friends I made, my #plnbffs, they are my true friends. Yes, I rely on them, they push me, they encourage me  but I am successful because of me.

Since AMLE 2013, I reevaluated the way I was  teacher.  I turned my classroom upside, got rid of everything that person from before told me or gave me.  I started fresh I started new, and guess what...I am being SUCCESSFUL.  I feel I am a better educator and a better person today because of those 75 minutes at AMLE 2013.

This November I am returning as a presenter at AMLE 2014, not with one presentation but with two!  I did this, I was accepted. No one else did it. I was selected because of me.  I am the creator of my dreams, my goals and my future.  I am pushing ahead, with a new mindset, and a new determination. Yes, there people in my new dreams but they are no reasons or the cause of my dream, they just make the dreams better.