After 21 years

After 21 years….
I will not be in a classroom.  I am taking some sabbatical time.  It is an odd feeling. No new kids to get to know. No students to catch up with and see how much they have changed. No sports teams revving up for a season. No neighbor teachers to talk about what’s new. Everyone else tweeting about first days and new starts. But then again, no lesson plans, or paperwork, or new initiatives, or getting up at 5 a.m.

One point of view might be that I am retiring for a year. Or maybe you could say I am going to “home school” myself. Though, in reality, don’t most teachers home-schooled themselves. Now I will not be dividing my time between learning things I want and lesson plans / curriculum / assessments. There are some people and places I want to visit to see how they do things. A main focus will be MakerSpaces and FabLabs. Do you have something awesome to share with me? There are some conferences to get to that I could not when I was in a school (FabLearn, SXSWEDU…). I have some books to read.  I just got a CNC router to learn the nuances of CAD/CAM. Being a maker, there are always things to build (homemade gifts). I will continue to share my “edventures” here and on my youtube channel.  
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I know what I want my next phase in the education world to be. I want to help people and places develop a Maker Mindset and MakerSpaces/FabLabs.  Now I can focus on learning more about that, as well as figuring out how to get myself out into the world to work with people. Anyone need a partner for doing this? Do you need some help with these concepts? Please contact me ( @shirky17).

Did I make the right decision to take time and refocus, redirect what I am doing in the education world?  Leaving a pretty good paying job with insurance for nothing? That will be a lingering question.