Headed Back to the Classroom

After two years of being a fully online educator, I am headed back to the full-time classroom. What made me decide to do this? Part madness probably... Keep reading for the whole story. First, let me start by recapping my teaching timeline. I started teaching in 2017, with choir, half time at a school. By the next year, I grew my program to full time, plus an AP music theory class. Eve

Headed back to the classroom

ntually I traded out the music theory for musical theatre, where I was very passionate, and added that in.

In 2018, I started teaching musical theatre and theatre appreciation at a university, as well as directing some shows. Some of the classes were in person, others were online, and that is where I got started with virtual teaching. By 2020, I had more experience with virtual teaching than most, and was given a leadership role for Canvas for my district. I stayed teaching online throughout the pandemic, and then continued to teach theatre online when things opened back up. When I decided to move to Denver, my intention was to stay in music, but I wanted to try something new besides high school choir. I wasn't feeling burnt out yet, but I saw that burnout was coming, so I wanted to nip it before it got out of control. I was offered a position in a virtual school and took it. Over the last two years, I have taught Mythology, Creative Writing, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English, Credit Recovery, Accelerated English, and Music Appreciation. I still teach online at the university, and I am getting a little screened out. I am moving to a school where I already direct theatre, and I am excited to say that I love the culture of this school, the faculty, and the students. They have become my friends over the past year, and I look forward to being the classroom. While I consider myself to be a very accomplished music and theatre, teacher, and an extremely skilled online teacher, I have a little bit of imposter syndrome when it comes to English Language Arts. I have always loved to read and write, and I have the credentials, but teaching in an asynchronous virtual setting is a completely different ballgame. I tend to be a person who loves to prepare, and I am finding myself chomping at the bit to get started, but I am I waiting for access to materials, and scheduled planning time with other teachers. Hopefully, this will be a great experience, and I think it is the right move. As far as TPT goes, I will continue to make digital products and music history products, but I have already started posting more printable resources. I, like most teachers, am suffering a little from AI fatigue. I am tired of seeing it, reading it, and grading it. I also desperately need to unplug. I am creating a lot of journals, workbooks, and resources for hand writing and journaling to allow myself to take a brief pause, and focus on the content again, rather than the digital delivery.

Next up, I will be setting some goals for my TPT store, and my overall work-life balance! I have some exciting things to share with you about the second half of my 2024, and even more exciting things to share about what is coming in 2025.

Thanks for taking the time to ready, and I wish you the best of luck as you enter 2025. Freddy