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Leap of Faith
Well, this is me, Amanda Sutera, at the end of 2022 preparing for what was about to unfold in 2023 with no sense of direction as to where I was going and how I was going to get there…and how amazing it was!
After 12 years in primary classrooms and in school leadership, roles that I loved, I resigned from my teaching and leadership positions following an unsettling feeling that there was more out there…more to explore…more to get curious about, questioning if the grass was really greener and wondering what else was out there beyond the four walls of a classroom and the gates of a school. So I took a leap of faith, and with a heavy heart, I made the decision to step aside from the profession- my head caught up with what my heart was trying to tell me!
I had loved my time as a teacher and a leader, but this was more about making the right (life) choice for me than it was about determining the next steps in my education career. As I write this, I’m definitely missing the beautiful students and the amazing colleagues, the corridor conversations and the laughs about all the funny things we say in our classrooms that only educators would understand (like, ‘Take that glue-stick lid off your shoe!”). Taking the courageous step meant being a risk-taker, open-minded and reflective (some of the IB Learner Profile Attributes which I was literally applying to my own life outside of the classroom).
At the end of 2022, I had nothing planned and nothing locked in, and wow, what a feeling it was! It was a far cry and a stretch from the planning (preplanning) and organising that we usually do as teachers!
It wasn’t long before I found myself back in the education world, but this time from a different perspective. At the end of 2022, I was telling people how excited I was to be able to try new things- from being able to direct people down the aisles at Bunnings, to placing clothes on racks at Zara to making freshly brewed coffee as a barista...none of which have come to fruition during my ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ venture. Although I didn’t experience any of those other ‘callings’, I’ve spent the past seven months getting curious, learning, researching and evaluating education in Australia, in particular literacy and leadership.
Reflecting on my own journey as a teacher and a leader, I started to think about the support, guidance and professional learning currently available in the literacy space for upper primary and lower secondary teachers. To transform literacy practice and build teacher capacity means teachers need to be confident, clear and consistent in their practice. Having spent the majority of my time teaching in upper primary, I shifted my attention to working with upper primary teachers and lower secondary English teachers. For a number of years I’ve been building my profile as a literacy consultant and had cultivated a vibrant community of educators on Instagram, where I shared resources, provided advice and gave inspiration. I loved this sense of community within our broader community of educators, that didn’t have the geographic limits of a classroom or a school.With my literacy expertise and leadership experience, I am now a passionate and dedicated Instructional Literacy Coach. I pride myself on making other educators feel heard, valued and seen for the committed educators they are.
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