What motivates you?

I am a heavily motivated individual, which is especially obvious in my career as a teacher. At each school, I have been continually driven to build my skills and advance into different levels of school leadership. A desire to succeed and a sense of accomplishment is definitely part of this motivation, but it is possibly my desire to make a lasting positive contribution that really pushes me to the next level. It pushes me to propose new programs at school, to find better ways to support students’ and it motivates me to listen to others. I am driven to make things better any way I can.

Innovating at school

I am not one to accept the way things are or become complacent with what we as teachers are doing for students. This is something that every colleague I have worked with would definitely be able to recognise. Perhaps it is a need to be constantly in motion, but realistically, I just see gaps and room for improvement, which means I should do something about it. It has probably meant that I have stepped on a few toes and frustrated some people a long the way, but I am never going to apologize for trying to make things better.

Along the way, this has meant that I have introduced new subject opportunities and developed year level programs. It drove me to pour an ungodly amount of extra time and hard work into building a library for a school where kids struggled to read. It means that I continue to refine school processes even if it means more work for myself to make things more efficient and improve my ability to support colleagues in the classroom. In 10 years in teaching, it means that I have left an impact at the schools I have worked at and greatly influenced the lives of hundreds of students in a positive way. Yet, I am not satisfied. There is always more potential improvement and new opportunities to make a difference to a few more kids.

Advocating for my community

More recently, I have found a new passion project as an online advocate for the LGBTQIA and specifically trans community. Although in some ways I am standing up for my own rights, the truth is that my passion is to stand up and be visible to others. This is perhaps because growing up in the 1990s and 00s I feel like I lacked similar role models but also because I recognise that compared to a lot of others in our community, I can be a positive influence. As someone who is eloquent and confident from being in front of a classroom, I not only have the skills to educate but also have the experience dealing with hostile kids, which creates a pretty thick skin.

This means that I am willing to put myself out there and challenge different viewpoints. Even if it has brought down a bit of hate at times. More importantly, it means I don’t shy away from being visible, I have learnt the importance of being proud and am able to stand as a role model for others. As someone working with teenage, the opportunity to be visible for kids trying to understand their own identity is a massive drive to keep going. The potential to make such an immeasurable impact in this way is truly amazing and has led to some pretty rewarding moments.

Being the best parent

It perhaps goes without saying that as a parent, anyone wants to do right by their child and have a positive impact. However, it is still an area that I feel driven to continually improve so I can have a positive impact on my son. Unfortunately, there is some guilt here as well due to the impact that my transition has on his life, and I definitely feel a need to compensate. That doesn’t mean I smother him or give into his every desire, but I always priotise the time we spend together and focus on supporting his development.

It is perhaps my greatest dream that he will grow up with similar values and strive to make a similar positive impact. However, regardless of his own motivation and drive, I will continue to strive my hardest to make sure he grows up not only with the opportunity to reach for his dreams but als in am environment where he knows he can always be himself.