ABOUT JACY

I have been on a journey of falling in and out of love with the field of education over the last ten years. I have sat on the floor and cried more times then I would like to count. If you have cried on your classroom floor after hours, closet floor, bathroom floor, or kitchen floor just know you are not alone.

I want to take some time and pull back the curtain to share with you how I got here.

BACKSTORY TIMELINE

• BACKSTORY TIMELINE •

As an elementary student playing school when I wasn’t selling out stadiums for my concerts in my bedroom. I want you to know that I had the longest running sold out stadium tour ever… the location was my bedroom but that’s not the most important detail. Also, I was going to be a manager of a restaurant because at 5 years old I knew that it needed to be managed better (human design projector vibes started early).

Me, my grandfather, and my little sister.

In high school, I bounced around ideas of what I wanted to do for a future career (still holding on to my sold out stadium dreams), but I knew that teaching was one of the things God put me here for. I spent high school being a high school assistant at an elementary school and on paper was checking off all of the boxes that society laid out for me. Behind the scenes, my mental health was struggling. This was an additional factor to wanting to become a teacher, because I wanted to be there for students like I had had teachers be there for me.

High School Senior Pictures

College Graduation

After three years of classes and one year of student teaching, I graduated university with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in EC-6th General Education and EC-12th Special Education. Once again, I focused on checking off the list that society had predetermined and was excited to start my first year teaching. However, through college my mental health was still struggling because I was still putting other people’s opinions before my own.

My very first classroom, where I taught 4th grade math for four years. This photo was taken the night before my very first day of school.

I taught 4th grade math for four years. I made being a teacher 100% of my identity. When I wasn’t at school, I was thinking about school, or doing something for school. I poured literally everything I had out into my students and the campus. I had great test scores and was super confident in my ability as a teacher. By year two, I was ready for for and went to graduate school and earned as Masters Degree in Education with a focused in Curriculum and Instruction. At the end of year four, I finished the degree and wasn’t satisfied. I was still wanting something more, so I asked my principal if I could move grade levels. I was ready for a new challenge. I was four years into a career and I felt like my life had peaked.

“I remember looking around my classroom one day and asking myself if my life had peaked. Was this it? Was this the next 30 years of my life?

Halloween the year that I was teaching Kindergarten, pretending that I was okay.

I moved from fourth grade to kindergarten. I thought that changing grades would help me fill the emptiness inside. I lost family members this year combine that with the stress of a new grade level and spending the last four years pouring every drop I had into education, I was left with daily cry sessions and was ready to leave the field of education for good.

When the events that happened in March of 2020, I was relieved to be trapped in the house. My mental health was in shambles and my anxiety was out of control, but I was relieved to not be in my classroom. The career that I had worked so hard for had drained the life from me.

Ultimately, I decided that I needed to give it one more chance and I asked my principal to move me grade levels again. I don’t regret this year in my education journey, because I learned a lot that I still use to this day and I know with 100% certainty that Kindergarten is not for me.

Halloween the year that I was teaching third grade.

I moved from kindergarten to 3rd grade reading. I was the only 3rd grade reading teacher on our campus. At year 6 of teaching, I felt like I had started all over again. Not to mention it is the fall of 2020 and the stress that was teaching during that time.

My mental health continued to decline to the point that I was having anxiety attacks daily. I spent time crying on the floor of my closet, after school in my classroom, honestly no location was safe from a breakdown. It was during this school year that I started my journey with therapy and took personal development seriously. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I knew there had to be more.

It was during this school year that I decided I needed an exit strategy and went back to school for a second masters degree this time a Masters of Education in Instructional Design for Adult e-Learning.

However, spring of this school year, my principal came to me and asked if the following school year I would move to the ESL Campus Coordinator position. Getting out of the homeroom classroom, while I still had one more year in my degree plan, I agreed to move positions for the third year in a row.

Year 3 as the ESL/EB Campus Coordinator for Grades 2-4.

I have spent the last three years as a campus ESL/EB Campus Coordinator for our school district. I completed my second masters degree during my first year in this position. It was in this position that I my passionate was reignited for a position similar to what it was in fourth grade. However, this time thanks to two years in therapy, I had boundaries. I have detached my identity from being a teacher.

I was navigating a new landscape though because I was also deep into the personal development world and during this time I launched my podcast. I spent majority of my time in this position navigating how I could love my job and want more.

I eventually gave that permission to myself. This leads us to today. I realized that it wasn’t so much that I wanted to leave education. It was more that I wanted to love my life and not feeling like this career was pulling me beneath the water. I don’t get right 100% of the time, but I do feel like I get it right 90% of the time.

The landscape of education is changing rapidly. I am still passionate about this field and realized that I cannot walk away and let it fall apart. I have realized that my deeper purpose is to empower teachers. I have taken everything I have learned through my educational pursuits, nine years of teaching experience, and personal development to bring my own perspective into supporting teachers. I am on a mission to empower teachers to TEACH WITH AUDACITY.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TEACH WITH AUDACITY?

• WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TEACH WITH AUDACITY? •

TEACH WITH AUDACITY means to teach with equity for all students (diverse ability and multilingual students), teach with ease (systems and structures that are easy to maintain), and teach with engagement for all (engaging students without
overcomplicating it).

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Enneagram 8: The Challenger
Human Design: Projector
OG Swiftie since Tim McGraw was a single
Favorite TV Show: Schitt’s Creek and Grey’s Anatomy
Favorite Movie: The Hunger Games Series
My music taste is all over the place.
Favorite Food: Cheesecake
I love to read nonfiction books.
I have two master’s degrees in Education. I have my M.S. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and M.S. Ed. in Instructional Design for Adult e-Learning.