I'm so excited to see this community of Paradigm Breakers grow and thrive together!

Hello! I'm so excited to see so many of you joining our community of Paradigm Breakers! I grew up in a traditional education system where I was successful because I recognized that this system was a game to be played. When I began my career as a math teacher in a traditional public high school in the U.S., I immediately recognized that there were many students who were not being served by this system. I worked hard to focus on my students as whole people first, supporting their academic goals in service of their lives rather than the other way around. However, there were many limiting factors in a traditional public high school setting. I ultimately left my job to be a stay-at-home-mom and decided that I would take on a different career path once I was ready to return to working outside of the home. However, I was introduced to a local Montessori school when my oldest daughter was just a year old, and it changed the trajectory of my family's lives! I was in awe at this education system/philosophy that was focused on human development and meeting students' needs rather than focusing on academic outcomes, standardized testing, and top-down policies coming from adults working in offices removed from students. I was fortunate to join the staff of this Montessori school as an adolescent math specialist and have since become the adolescent program director and all-in paradigm breaker! We can do so much better than the traditional education status quo!

@Chris Sarkonak, reading your story elicits so many of the feelings I have had over the course of my time as a teacher. Kudos to you for doing the work to make meaningful change!