I have some small measure of practical knowledge, but I am not an Expert or a Guru.
I like to look to the future, and be experimental, but I am not a Progressive.
I rather enjoy using a bit of direct instruction, but I am not a Traditionalist.
I worry about the statutory mandate of phonics, but I am not a Phonics Denialist.
I speak and write about education, but I am not an Educationalist.
If you try and pin a label on me, I will rip it off.
If you try and pin a label on me, this says nothing about me, and everything about you.
I am a mother, a daughter, a partner, a lover and a friend.
I am a teacher and a writer.
I am often wrong and frequently mistaken.
I am sometimes uncertain and unsure, but usually stronger than I thought.
I am creative, fun loving and outspoken.
I am trying to be kind, gentle and generous, though I don’t always pull it off.
I am a complicated and contrary human being.
I am not what you tell me I am.
I am what I choose to become.
Freeing the Angel 
Sue, you have captured the essence of who you are – who we all are – works in progress making choices for good or bad each day.
My husband and I are on incredible learning journeys at an age when people used to retire; and even if poor health comes to clip our wings we will still be on a journey of a different kind.
We will hopefully always be, becoming 😏
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Hi Sue, great post. I virtually met a lady a while back who caught my attention because she said: job titles shut conversations down. This is such a true and insightful observation! She does an online workshop where she encourages people to declare who they are past their labels. I did this and created some art which incorporated these statements (nervous sharing this here, but hey! why not!): I am the wind that rushes into the forest and plays with trees, their leaves dance! I am the blind sun, warm and happy, though I don’t always see or understand my own light. I am a speck of dust, floating in the vast ocean. Enchanted and terrified by it’s expanse…
Recently I’m careful to never ask people what they do in conversation: in a world where 70% of employed people hate what they do for a living, and most people who are unemployed feel guilt about that, it’s generally kind to not ask! Instead I’m asking: What do you care about? What are you working on? It’s my observation that conversations from these starting points are a million miles better that conversations that being with an exchange of label-words, self defined or not.
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