I have a hard time calling my job “work” – that’s how much I love it!  

It hasn’t always been that way.  I had a long and “successful” career and, after leaving that, several “good jobs” all fine but none that I would describe as a joyful experience.  Then about three years ago I stumbled across an amazing alternative educational model called self-directed learning (SDL).  And an organization called Princeton Learning Cooperative.  Now I am a mentor/teacher at one of their learning cooperatives and I am working to open another.  It feels like a perfect fit for me.  Why?

I get to connect with awesome kids.  As a high school teacher I was frustrated by the limited time and space I had to really connect with my students. Now it’s the most important part of my job.  So when a handful of kids and I sit relaxed by a creek on a sunny fall afternoon, plunking rocks into the water and listening to the sounds, this is not goofing off.  This is Nature class.

What I do makes people’s lives better.  I hear a parent’s story of how their son laughed at dinner.  He laughed.  Something they haven’t heard in a long time.  And at a new family meeting I see the big, bright grin on the face of another boy – who has struggled with and resisted school for years – as he says “I’m ready”.  The mom shares her hope for the difference it will make for their family when her son is happy again.  A few days later he tweets “This place rocks!”.

I give people good news.  A moment I will never tire of:  At an info meeting we tell a mom and her anxiety-ridden daughter that you don’t have to graduate high school or take the SATs to go to college!  They exchange looks of disbelief, excitement, relief.

What I do makes the world a better place.  I answer a new member’s question “What do I do if I’m hungry during class?”. You eat!  Need to use the bathroom? Go. Need a drink of water? Take it.  Need to walk out the door and go out into the woods.  Do it.  No permission, no hall pass needed. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say empowering kids this way will change the future.

I spend my days in a joyful place.  The kids are there because they want to be there. I sit back and observe as teen members (during weekly community circle meeting) discuss closing the center to observe a holiday.  They don’t want to miss their classes so choose instead to stay open and arrange an in-house celebration.

Am I happy that the teens at our centers are learning, building rich lives for themselves, and growing into awesome people that will make our world a better place?  Sure I am!  But I am also hugely thrilled for ME that they have discovered self-directed learning.