There are many reasons why I’m looking forward to this upcoming year. For starters, I’m returning to California. More specifically, I’ll be returning to the community where I used to teach. So I’m going to be running into all my former kiddos and their families and that’s pretty exciting in and of itself.

The other thing that’s making me look forward to this year is the anticipation of getting to work somewhere with values that align with my own.

Let me tell you the first thing that happened that made me look at Ankur and say, “I’m so freaking excited to be working here.”

Each year, KIPP has an annual summit where KIPPsters from all over the country fly to a destination for a few days and engage in networking opportunities and loads and loads of professional development sessions. My supervisor was registering me on her end so I could sign up for sessions on my end. She texted me a question – along with a screenshot of the registration page.

“What’s your preferred gender and ethnicity?”

I immediately texted her back and said, “WHAT? THIS IS AN OPTION? I HAVE MISSED CALIFORNIA SO MUCH.” (Fortunately for me, she didn’t think I was a crazy person).

Later that week, when a friend had asked me which schools I would be working at, I scrolled back into my inbox to find the e-mail she had sent me listing the names of the sites. When I got to the bottom of her e-mail, I noticed that she included her pronouns in her e-mail signature.

Not only that, but she included a hyperlink that people could click that would lead them to this page, explaining why it is important to include your preferred pronouns on social media, e-mail signature, nametags, etc.

When I went to log on to sign up for sessions at the summit, I was led to this page first, asking me to select my “track.”

Our three-day summit features many sessions to accommodate the various roles across our network. To make session selection more streamlined, they created ‘tracks’ to provide the most relevant sessions for our specific roles.

I just love how organized and efficient everything has been up until now.

And then, to top it all off, they’ve got a number of sessions dedicated to social justice and equity. Sessions that will help increase our self-awareness and critical consciousness. While also providing us with the tools for creating equitable and culturally responsive classrooms, schools, and communities.

And my supervisor and SpED director are facilitating an LGBTQ+ session.

Mine.

They get to lead it for the summit. And then I get to learn from them all year.

I just know this year is going to be pivotal in my development and I know how fortunate I am to have gotten this position. To be working alongside a bunch of incredible, dynamic, socially conscious individuals. Working for an organization that is dedicated to loving and supporting ALL kids everywhere.

Question of the Day:

Do you think I’m being crazy for being so excited about all of this, yes or no?