Krulder's Odyssey

  I'd been doing pretty good with all the goodbyes until I walked into my classroom this morning and saw the sign that the staff and students at Paradise High School signed for me. We had a hygge day a few days earlier where I was able to give each of my AP Lit students a book I had picked out and inscribed for them, and that was a bit emotional, but standing there reading the well wishes of people I spend my days with brought it all home. I have made connections with the incredible humans at Paradise High that are so deep. I really felt the love this morning and I have to admit it took me a while to pull myself together. What I kept reminding student (and myself) of is that I'll be back - hopefully with some new tools to support staff and students - but definitely to carry on this work I love so much with the people I love SO much. 

My Airbnb in Athens!! Ya'll, I'm going to Greece!! In less than a month, I'll be getting on a plane to Athens to study Social Emotional learning in the Greek school system.  If you're not aware of what a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching is you can check out this site , but basically, I'm being supported by the US State Department and my school district to do research abroad that will help my students. How incredible is that??? I have been a teacher for 25 years and have been teaching English at Paradise High School in Northern California for the past 20 of those. We've been through a LOT - my students survived the 2018 Campfire and then, like the rest of the nation, the subsequent trauma of COVID. We have an incredible staff at our school, but I and my colleagues found ourselves desperately looking for tools to support our students, and the national curriculum of Greece just happens to have a social emotional component. I'm heading over there for t