Before my first day teaching my own students in my own classroom, I had completed a full teacher preparation program of coursework, readings, and student teaching to help me learn how to teach. While it certainly didn’t prepare me for everything I would encounter, it did allow me to believe (perhaps wrongly) that I had some idea of what I was doing. Contrast that to when I moved from the classroom to a district-level leadership position. Instead of the years of preparation for teaching, I was given a three-ring binder of some historical documents, an office, and a well-meaning “good luck!” Hungry for some experiences that would give me some understanding of how to do the job, I sought out professional organizations and found NCSM. The journals, conferences, and networking provided by NCSM allowed to me finally feel (again, perhaps wrongly) that I would be able to serve administrators, teachers, the community, and, most importantly, students as a mathematics leader. The PRIME Leadership Framework provided me with my overall charge and is a resource I continue to refer to for inspiration. The later resources, including It’s TIME and the Essential Actions series, continue to strengthen, and at times challenge, my understanding of what it means to be a bold leader. I am grateful for everything that NCSM has provided me as a member. Now that I am joining the board as the Professional Learning Director, I am very excited to be able to support the work of NCSM in creating bold mathematics leaders and strengthening mathematics teaching and learning.
