Today is Thanksgiving day in the US, a time for reflection on what we are most grateful for, and since this is a professional blog, I thought I’d take a few moments to express gratitude in relation to my professional journey thus far.

First and foremost, I am thankful to be able to be on this journey at all.  With the advent of many alternative pathways to credentialing and online programs, it’s not an easy time for traditional schools of education in general, and it’s an even harder time for the California public school/ university system, so the privilege of working where I work, in the position that I’m in, is one for which I am incredibly grateful.

I’m also thankful to have a family that supports me and tries as best they can to understand the fact that I seem to ALWAYS be working on something, often at all hours of the night (even on Thanksgiving).  My family helps me to not completely lose myself to work and reminds me that my self worth is not constituted by the number of publications I secure in an academic year.

In addition to my family, I’m surrounded by fantastic colleagues, students and professional connections.  I love the people with whom I work.  My colleagues are wonderful mentors and brilliant scholars, but more importantly, they are compassionate and thoughtful human beings who are committed to improving public education.  I’ve been privileged to establish and maintain relationships with students (both as a professor and in my former life as a public school teacher), all of whom have such great potential to make a difference in the world.  And, finally, I’ve been able to forge new connections and maintain strong collaboration with other professionals, both through face-to-face meetings and interactions and through online collaborative spheres.

There’s so much more to be thankful for, but I don’t want the loud music and announcer voiceover to signal me offstage like a bad awards show acceptance speech, so I’ll leave those acknowledgments for another post.