One More Title
A New Chapter as an Education Columnist
Life has a way of adding titles to your name.
Mom. Wife. Teacher. And not long ago, one more was added: Columnist.
I never imagined that someone like me — someone who has always preferred the quiet work of teaching students — would one day be sharing the things I've learned, experienced, and observed through writing. Now that the title is here, I find myself with a strange mix of feelings. A little out of place. A little nervous. And somewhere underneath it all, a quiet sense of responsibility.
Over the past six months, I've been contributing educational columns to a local Korean newspaper, and I thought I had grown somewhat comfortable with it. But starting fresh in a new space brings its own kind of tension.
Am I really ready for this?
I find myself asking that question.
The honest answer is that I am not a professional writer. What I am is someone who has spent a long time teaching students. I've watched kids who were once doing well suddenly hit a wall. I've sat with students who worked hard but couldn't understand why their grades weren't moving. I've seen students solve a problem correctly but struggle to explain why they solved it that way — and I've also witnessed the quiet, remarkable moment when a student begins to find their own way forward. Through all of it, I've listened to a great many worries and questions from parents.
Perhaps those are exactly the kinds of stories I'm meant to write.
Not sweeping theories of education, but something closer to the ground — passing along what I've personally observed and experienced to parents who are navigating similar questions right now. And when it's useful, drawing on research in education and learning science to connect what's actually happening in the classroom with what we know about how people learn.
If that can be of even small help to someone, that's enough.
So rather than putting pressure on myself to write beautifully, I've decided to focus on writing thoughtfully — on writing in a way that's genuinely useful.
The moments I've noticed while teaching. The points where students get stuck. The questions parents come back to again and again. And the things that, even as a teacher, continue to make me think and keep me learning.
Those are the stories I want to record, one at a time.
Today, with one new title added to my name, I begin — with a heart that is just a little nervous, and ready.
