The new Edventure

I am taking a “sabbatical”, but I am not going back to my former position (yes, I resigned).  Maybe a better term would be gap year, or walk about.   Because of all the reading, conferences and PLN discussions, I have changed so much in my educational philosophies over the past two decades that I no longer feel like I fit.  I have been trying to push for some changes, and trying to fit in, but have been feeling unhappy and unsuccessful recently, as well as very tired. So it is time for a change.  I know many people who are doing great professional development or things in their classroom and I have never had a chance to fully experience them.  I am going to do that in the next year.  I hope to visit classrooms of people in my network, get to speaking engagements of some education leaders, visit some schools doing great things, get to a couple of conferences that I normally cannot (California STEAM , SXSWEDU ) . I will probably do some sightseeing along the way also.  There are some exciting new developments in solar power and aeroponics that I would like to see first hand (I would love to see these at schools).  I will take time to do more maker stuff of my own.  Maybe I will get back into some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity.  

Being single makes this a little easier.  But I do have two small worries on this “edventure” (to borrow a term from John) : money and health insurance. I do not want to eat up all of my savings and who knows what the government is doing.  Finding sporadic income throughout the year would be beneficial.  Any ideas?  I will try to document what I learn, via Twitter (@shirky17 ) and my youtube channel.  Obviously, I hope to find a place where I feel a good fit in the education world.   If you have any ideas or learning experiences that I should take part in, please let me know.  I am always looking to grow.
As Calvin & Hobbes said “Let’s go exploring!”
(btw… i might need your couch for a couple of nights on my exploration)
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