April 29, 2024 – Intersecting Conversations

On my quest for being HAPPY (my one-word for 2024), I am finding myself more isolated, like being on an island, with my work. Admittedly, I am more HAPPY, but I found myself describing my work to another person who was getting to know me. I’m not sure why I was compelled to describe my work as if I was on an island, but I did. Slowly but surely I am forming this metaphorical island. I love my autonomy, agency, and independence. I also love, community, connection, and collaboration. In a way, I have both. I am learning how to develop my research agenda, but I am also working with others on other research projects and finding my community.

I have always enjoyed working with students and I have a community outside of he university. This year, I am no longer working in practicum. This is my sixth year working at the university and four of them I worked in practicum. This year has been a shift in my work with full intentions of being more focused on research. These are the choices I’ve made to make my work viable and sustainable. So, I continue to teach courses in the teacher education program in the first two terms but also teach courses in undergraduate and graduate studies. The rest is service and the exploration of a non-teaching term to write, research, and explore.

As you can see in the image, I am flying over Vancouver. I am visiting the Lower Mainland for a week or so as respite and writing retreat two re-navigate this change in my work. It’s a strange feeling to me. I teach a bit in each program, but I am not fully immersed in any of them. I need to take this time to fully immerse in my research program and give a fair chance to the notion of being a researcher. Throughout my career, I had always perceived myself to be an educator. Now, I am faced with the challenge of being a learner and researcher. I spend the last term wondering, reflecting, and being curious about my research and I’m ready to go.

The happenstance that just occurred recently was a visit with my sister. I just arrived in Vancouver and we went out to lunch. Over a yummy bowl of udon, we chatted about how things are going with work, life, and family. My sister started talking about her work and how she loves how to “build the plane while in flight.” Strangely, I love doing that too (if given the opportunity). I do that all the time in my teaching practice (i.e., new strategies, ideas, and content). It’s not perfect by any means, but I like the high stakes of working something out in real time. Then, my sister described how she is “on an island” at work. This resonated with me.

I shared with her with how I was feeling at work and I also swooped in my brother into the conversation. On reflection, we concluded that we are all on islands. Huh. We love our autonomy, agency, and independence. How we each arrived to our islands and now we maintain them are very different, as well as our contexts. That said, I’m feeling some solace thinking that me and my siblings operate in a similar way. I never thought that we did. I think my preference is not be on an island, but knowing that being on an island is a preference for others does bring me some solace. Delving into this on my own can be a bit daunting, but I am not alone. 🙂