Introductions are in order!

Here I am, Crystal Chavez, 40 years old, starting a blog. I am a teacher. I am a wife. I am a mother of 2 sons. I am officially a blogger. I have lots of thoughts, strong opinions, and tons of passion. I also have a voice. I am a champion for student voice and push hard for my students and children to know how much their voice matters. I had to take my own advice and use my voice. To be completely honest, I've been thinking about blogging for awhile. Others have asked me to guest blog and I have respectfully declined quite a few offers. I thought on more than one occasion to myself who would read it anyway. As I read my colleague and friend Brent Coley's book the other night, "Stories of EduInfluence..." he spoke about the power of sharing.  He mentioned that there may just be that one person that needed to hear what you have to say. It was the nudge I needed. Thanks @brentcoley. So I begin this blogging journey to share my story in hopes that it may touch someone, help in some way for my readers to fell peace, love, joy, or comfort. I don't know the ins and outs of blogging. I actually rarely read blogs. I prefer verbal communication. I was a communications major in my undergrad and public speaking was a big part of that. You may even see me opt out of blogging and throw a Vlog in, here and there. Is that allowed? I really should go read up on Blog rules, but then again, I'm not typically a rule follower. I'm the one disrupting the status quo, to push progress forward, and take risks to see what might work better. I'm the one who asks uncomfortable questions. I'm sometimes loud, I have quite a bit of energy, and I love to talk. I karaoke to release stress, and love to challenge myself. You'll probably get to know my self talk battle well as I take on new challenges. A common phrase lately has been " What did I get myself into?" If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking around. Let's see what happens next.