Dear Wild Thoughts,

It is time to stop hiding and come out and play! You have so much to offer the world yet you stay in your zone to avid conflict or the appearance of insubordination because we ALL know you beat to your own drum. Well guess what? Chicken butt. LOL - insert gut-burning laughter here - you can not hide any longer. There are some wonderful PLN/PLC communities that I think you should take a look at. PLN/PLC stands for professional learning network or professional learning community. You know those things you attend every day on campus during 3rd period. 

Right. 

Those. 

KQED Education, The Teaching Channel, and Digital Is are the ones I mentioned. They have a wealth of knowledge and free resources for teacher like yourself.
Ohhhh.. here are some social media site that have great stuff as well: https://www.instagram.com/teachersthings/https://www.instagram.com/edutopia/https://www.instagram.com/tchr2tchr/https://www.instagram.com/teacher_life___/
You are going to attend PLC meetings M-F on your campus. Monday is grade level with everyone in 7th grade, Tuesday is a specialized meetings with varying topics, Wednesday is content, Thursday is specialized again and Fridays are data digs.  You may never think of joining ones that are not connected to the campus until you start the masters program at Lamar. They will be tremendously helpful and insightful. It will be refreshing to be able to interact with people you do not see every day.

Consume as much knowledge as you can in the digital arena and the integration of technology into the classroom. Technology is the way of the world now. You will have to learn tech, pay someone to do it for you, or vanish in to the new dinosaur age. We do not have time for that.  The perspective of students at all levels will be helpful and give you a better understanding of which way to go.

You will contribute a vast array of knowledge in the ELAR & Writing field as well as in modern leadership and growth. Your specialty will be growth in the midst of adversity. Teheheheheeee… Stay the course. I can already see your face. Every little things is going to be alright! Hakuna Matata! Remember. No worries. Thank God for Lion King.
Joining or attending a PLC/PLN is going to be critical to the evolution of teachers in every content. You gain so many different perspective and you are able to bounce your thoughts and ideas off of colleagues who are in the trenches of education with you. You can explore new methods and build confidence in your ability to fail forward.

In ELAR you will often lead the lesson planning sessions and development of demonstrations of learning activities for writing. As an avid writer in your personal life (yes I know your business, I am you remember) your zeal for word crafting will naturally come alive in the classroom. As your students do well you will able to share your tactics with the others on your team. Help to foster an inclusive, non-judgmental environment where everyone is encouraged to be their authentic selves.  As a result of this going well you are able to share writing clinics with other teachers and show teachers from other contents, such as math, how to incorporate writing into their classes as well.
I believe in your success. You got this. 

You are the greatest!