I have notoriously been a wanderer in my professional life. For the first two decades of my career I didn’t stay at any one place for longer that a handful of years. I would enjoy what I was doing but then move along to the next thing. That is until I got the “job” that I have now…which isn’t really one job but more of a constellation of projects and roles.

Here is a quick overview of things that I did:

• Worked as a STEM professional in biotech in downtown Seattle during the 1990s. Wonderful place to work, incredible people, spectacular location on the shores on Lake Union…I have a reoccuring dream that I still work there and that they’ve been waiting for me for 20 years to come back and take care of my cell cultures.
• Got my Master’s in Teaching and worked as a classroom teacher during the 2000s. This was a pretty great time period. Every spring I think about going back to the classroom.
• Left the classroom and worked as a research coordinator on a project for UW Tacoma for a year.
• Worked at the regional level as a regional science coordinator. This was my first real leadership type of role and helped me build relationships and hone my skills in teaching and facilitating adults.
• Supported a large school district as coordinator of science and health/fitness. This gave me a lot of clarity about what it is like to work in a large school district office. NOTE: It’s hard!

And then I got the job that I have now. The job that really isn’t a job. In 2012, I decided to step away from the world of having a full time job working for somebody else and started my own consulting work. It was risky but somehow I’ve made it work. It’s wild to think that my wife supported me in doing it.

One thing I did early on was to make sure to have some foundational work to rely on. For me this became working part-time in higher education. I luckily got a part-time gig almost immediately supervising student interns during their student teaching. I loved that work and mentoring rookie teachers. It didn’t pay much but it was reliable and gave me the base to grow from. It was also flexible and allowed me to have several full days to schedule professional development/consulting work. Eventually I added on teaching courses in various colleges of education in my region. I’ve taught for WWU, UWT, CWU, Highline, and Evergreen. Most courses are in the evening so this usually allowed me time to consult during the day.

I started with teaching science methods and have now added Educational Psychology; Equity, Diversity, & Culture; and a few others to my repertoire. Again- working as an adjunct doesn’t pay much but I’ve mostly been able to cobble together a 0.5 FTE working in higher education which provides me and my family with benefits. From there I’m able to be choosy and identify meaningful projects that I want to support with my consulting work.

In my first 7-8 years of consulting I really did a ton of different things. I was looking through my old calendars a few days ago and couldn’t believe what my weeks used to look like- it stressed me out just looking at things I did in the past. I also noticed how many pictures I have of post-it notes and PD posters…Yikes! I need to get a life.

Here are a few highlights from the last decade:

• Worked with over 25 school districts in Washington (most in the Puget Sound region) delivering face-to-face and online professional development
• Co-directed a LASER Alliance
• Coordinated a state MSP grant with two large school districts plus informal science and higher ed partners
• Coordinated a Puyallup Watershed Initiative funded project in Pierce County
• Provided science instructional materials review support to multiple districts
• Provided elementary science cadre professional development support in multiple locations
• Coordinated the initial launch of a mobile STEM lab in a Pierce County district
• Delivered ongoing science professional development to multiple school districts
• Wrote and co-wrote multiple science curriculum support materials and assessments
• Conducted science/STEM program reviews
• Mentored and guided folks who were new to TOSA/District Office science support roles
• Lead science studio work with secondary science teachers
• Conducted example engineering design lessons with K-8 students

My family knows me as a bit of a homebody but I’ve been able to travel to some cool places over the years. I try to focus on local school districts since those are the students I care about the most but it’s been pretty great to travel all across Washington state, to Montana, to Oklahoma, and to Hong Kong (Once during a typhoon!) to support teachers.

The onset of the pandemic has made me even more choosy in my consulting. I’m less willing to travel- but still do. I’ve learned that I can do some pretty great work via Zoom. That I don’t always need to be face to face. I’ve also built up my expertise in building asynchronous courses and professional development. This might be my new favorite niche of work and I love the challenge of making asynchronous sessions engaging and interesting. I’m always looking for opportunities to support educators while also saving time and resources demanded by travel.

So that’s it. This is the job I’ve had longer than any other. Probably because it satisfies my need to do lots of different things. Each year is unique and often unfolds in unexpected ways- which can be stressful but also exciting. I wonder what new opportunities will arise for the 23-24 school year?