Finding the 4th E: “Explore”
Hope Springs Eternal with the finding of the fourth E for Hope4Education.
Recently, I returned to school. I’m a student, again, and loving it. Thank you to The Forest School Teacher Institute, FSTI (forestteacher.org) and Dr. Jean Lomino and Joe Pounds for founding and leading this forward-thinking organization.
Prior to the pandemic, I wandered while working a full-time teaching job and a part-time teaching job. All of my formal educational career, I’ve worked inside school buildings. Truth be told, I was thrilled when I got a promotion into administration and earned my own office. After years of sharing a classroom, I had a place to hang my hat, spread out my papers and books, and work. I thrived.
Then, one day, the sun set. I was moved to a location without a window. No window, no sunlight, no plants, just no. It took me a while to realize that the natural light, the window was missing, however when I did, I took action. While in Saratoga Springs, I found a window for my office. That’s the one with the purple irises in the photo collage for this post.
Over the past decade, that window has been my companion through various jobs and relocations. That window symbolizes so much. Look through it. What do you see? There’s a world out there to explore and that is my fourth “E” for hope4education. I’ve been searching for one, and there it was right in front of my eyes. I just needed that ah-ha moment to happen. I’m so glad it did.
The four Es for hope4education are:
Enjoy, Engage, Educate, Explore.
The Four Es
These are the four excellent attributes I bring to my new studies. These are the four lenses I bring to my work in support of educators.
I look forward to being an explorer with the February cohort at FSTI. I know that what I learn and experience (ah a 5th E) will be put to good use. As Dr. Lomino and Mr. Pounds mentioned in the video introductions, we are courageous dreamers and pioneers in an interdependent web.
To quote Louis Armstrong, “What a wonderful world”.
