The Kohlmans

Last week I packed up my classroom. I consolidated five years of teaching into three storage crates and a flash drive. On the last day of school, at 3:00 p.m., I walked away from classroom teaching for the foreseeable future. Five years ago, I had just graduated, was preparing for my quickly-approaching wedding, and was picking up my keys and textbooks for my first job. When I started teaching, my job was a dream job. I taught with amazing people, had plenty of time to collaborate with them, had great kids and good parent support. My administrators understood what it takes to be a great teacher and supported us completely. And then, at about the two-year mark, the budget cuts came . Things changed. I traveled. There was no longer time in the day to work together. Administrators did their best to support us. But the staffing and the budgets, stretched thin, could only go so far.  It was difficult for me to love my job. Don't get me wrong - I loved and still love teaching, ...

I just realized I never posted this news. It got lost in the shuffle of giving birth and raising a kid, since it happened about a week before he  made his appearance. Next year I'll be the high school librarian in Augusta. I'm feeling excited. Nervous. Scared. Giddy. Intimidated. Confident. Eager. And a lot of other emotions I can't quite name right now. The last librarian left in the middle of the year on not-so-good terms, from what I can piece together. So the expectations of what a librarian actually does are pretty low. But I may have interviewed really well, which would mean the expectations of me are pretty high. (At least, from what the superintendent told Brad about what the principal told him, if that makes any sense.) I met with the middle school librarian on Thursday. I'm so excited to get to work with her guidance. (Her name is also Megan, and she's a Bethel grad.)  There's a lot of work to be done. I have lots of books to buy bec...