As I begin to wake my brain back from it's summer mode I can reflect on my first 6 months as a Facilitator of Learning & Innovation. The day I found out this role would open up was the day my mind started spinning wildly in what felt like a million different directions. This role seemed to be designed for me. I was giddy to describe it to previous coworkers from around the state who knew me well...who knew me better than even my current colleagues. The role seemed to include all the things I was passionate about wrapped up into one neat little package. It's part creativity, part STEAM, part literature, & part curriculum design. The chance to be openly creative & share with others was enough for me. I began to prepare for my interview & was consumed with the endless possibilities of this role. I began in this role the week before Thanksgiving break. I spent the entire first week moving in, organizing & trying (trying!!) to get a grasp of the resources we currently had available. I had meetings with book reps, Instructional Facilitators, & teachers. I was excited to get started...but it seemed like "getting started" was never really going to end.
As the weeks moved quickly & became months I realized I did not carve out time for relationships. Starting mid-school year I was eager to "get to know" the role & nest into the space I had envisioned in my mind. I love my coworkers & assumed those relationships would be nurtured automatically. I was wrong. Those will not develop without an effort. Similar to my marriage I must MAKE time for it because the schedule alone is enough to fill the hours easily. I learned a lot about myself professionally as well as personally. In 6 short months this role has taught me more about myself then the previous 12 years in education combined. I am easily distracted. Duh, anyone who has ever worked or lived with me could confirm that. What I didn't know was that I need & crave boundaries. I LOVE to bust through boundaries & really have never shied away from breaking rules (respectfully of course). However, to begin a role where there were no clear boundaries quickly became overwhelming & I felt like I craved a weighted blanket! I started to construct my own walls so I would have targets to bust through. I started to give myself a ceiling in hopes of calming my ideas into some sort of focus. "In nature, we see the fantastic diversity generated by a few basic structural elements: no more than a hundred varieties of atoms and a couple of primary colors, lead to a universe of infinite beauty and diversity. In the great human creations, in the twelve notes of the musical scale, in the twenty six letters of the alphabet, these fantastic structural inventions have unlocked the enormous creativity of literature and music. Without structure, there is nothing for creativity to get leverage upon." (http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/03/29/creativity-must-have-structure/#4ace042d66bc) As I'm back in "work mode" now I'm reflecting on my first 6 months in this role & preparing my mind for my next 11 months. In a few weeks our faculty will return & the excitement of a new school year will be in the air. My hope for this year is symmetry. As an artist, I love asymmetric design but asymmetric things combined together ultimately have symmetry, all things ultimately reach that balance. There will still be a million tasks that can consume me if I let them & take me away from my primary focus...relationships. I want to deepen the relationships I already have, mend & tighten some that may be loose & forge bonds with new teachers. I want to MAKE time for all, just like I do with my marriage, because I know now that my daily tasks can consume me if I let them. Let's go create greatness together, - Rachel
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October 2018
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