Welcome to my new home!

Some of you know who I am, though I am posting in a new home and under a  new alias.  I will still be "me", but I needed a new forum, and a safer, more anonymous blogging identity.  My job as a teacher makes me vulnerable to being "Googled", and my previous blog was too open to who I really was, to my real name.  I want to be able to share stories from my amazing career, so a new place was necessary to be able to do that. 

Even though yes, I was ALWAYS careful to use pseudonyms and generalities if ever writing about my students, I mostly found myself holding back from sharing heartwarming and hilarious anecdotes, because I was so afraid a parent or someone affiliated with the school system would find me by my name.  They could take the story out of context, or just generally be upset that I'd posted, so I needed to do something so that I could feel comfortable posting stories again.  I will still ALWAYS respect the code of ethics related to my profession, but sometimes kids do say the darndest things, and sharing the experiences I have, in some way, is something I really want to be able to do.

Also, as my former readers know well, my personal life went through a major transition last fall, and again since the beginning of 2011.  I feel like my old blog represented someone else, an old chapter of my life.  It was relevant and meaningful for me, of course, but also something I'm ready to move forward from.  I want to share with you stories from my new relationship, and share with you the new person I'm becoming as I'm beginning the second half of my 20s.  There are new adventures to come, and a new space to share those stories was necessary for me.

So, here I am... a New Me, but still the old me in many ways.  A new chapter, a new blog.  For those of you who do know me personally, please respect the 'anonymous' process as much as you can.  I'm going with the pseudonym "Ms. Key"; which is a name that a kindergarten student called me by mistake during a supply teaching experience last week.  I will only be using alternate names for anyone I post about (weigh in, real life friends, if you have a name you'd like me to use for you!).  Also, I'm reachable at outofgoldstars@gmail.com now, for blog-related emails.

Welcome back old friends, a warm welcome to new friends, welcome new me!  Stick around, this is a new chapter and new stories are soon to come!