Introducing July’s Series: Pearls of Wisdom
Real Teachers. Authentic Voices. Earned Wisdom. (Plus, an invitation to contribute your writing to future series.)
There’s something about July.
The school year still feels far enough away to breathe, but close enough to start that familiar reckoning:
What kind of teacher do I want to be when I step back into that classroom?
July is when the dust settles. When reflection rises up uninvited, during road trips, while reorganizing bookshelves, or standing in the school supply aisle wondering if you really need new flair pens again. (Of course, you do.)
This month, we’re inviting our readers into a different kind of professional learning space. This is about teachers telling the truth of their own learning—how they’ve grown, what they’ve come to understand, and where professional wisdom has shown up in their work.
We call this series Pearls of Wisdom for a reason. These aren’t polished, pre-approved success stories. They’re stories shaped by friction, pressure, mistakes, and reflection.
They’re hard-earned.
They’re field-tested.
They’re still in motion.
Each Wednesday in July, you’ll hear from classroom teachers at different stages of their careers. Some have a decade or more behind them. Others are still counting their experience in years - or even months. But each one is offering a piece of hard-won insight:
What it means to stay teachable.
What it feels like to redefine your classroom identity.
How letting go of control can create space for student agency.
What happens when you stop pretending you have all the answers.
These aren’t abstract philosophies. These are practice-rooted reflections from educators working in real schools, with real students, in real time.
And as you read, I hope you’ll do more than nod along. I hope you’ll find yourself revisiting your own moments of learning: the shifts, the pivots, the internal debates you’ve had standing at the whiteboard or sitting in your car after a long day.
Because wisdom isn’t just something we build.
It’s something we share.
Want to add your voice?
If reading these pieces stirs something in you - some lesson you’ve learned the hard way, some shift in your practice that changed how you teach - we’d love to hear it.
You don’t have to have the perfect story arc. You don’t have to tie it up with a bow.
You just have to be willing to name the moment where your professional thinking shifted and what you now know that you didn’t know before.
If you’d like to contribute to a future installment of Pearls of Wisdom, fill out this form: Pearls of Wisdom Teacher Reflection Submission.
Your story might be the one someone else needs to read.