No Preconceived Notions

 Two days into a new school year, teaching all new classes, at a new-to-me district, and I have many (so many) thoughts.

Numerous people have told me in the last week, "Congratulations on your move to Okemos! I think that will be a much better fit for you."

And while I am still processing that statement (and so much more), here are some of my thoughts and questions.

1. Isn't it strange that it's only other adults (parents, teachers, colleagues) who are saying this? Not a single former student of mine has said this. Only people who have never actually had me in class. What gives? Where do these ideas come from?
2. What are their assumptions that are driving this statement?

What are their assumptions about Okemos?

What are their assumptions about me as a teacher?

What are their assumptions about me as a person?

What are their assumptions about Bath?

Every year at Bath, at the start of a new year, students would tell me, "Hey, I had heard you were a real Bitch. But you actually are really nice."

So, why was it so impossible to change my reputation, if every year I was informed that my reputation was wrong? Is it ever possible to change what people believe about you, what a community believes? Or do you just have to leave, start over, and try again?

What was driving my reputation? 

And how in the hell do I avoid that reputation following me, going forward?

My new students know nothing about me. No reputation. No preconceived notions. All they know is what I show them, what I tell them, what they see on paper and in Zoom.

There is an incredible freedom to being able to start fresh.

Maybe, going forward, things will be different.

Maybe I will be accepted at face value.

I will be a little fish in a big pond. There is so much water here! So much space.

I'm going to take a deep breath and jump in.

Photo by Zen Maldives on Unsplash