All About Me

So if you've made it as far as my site, I guess you're probably wondering who I am and what I stand for. What is my mission? What am I doing here? Why is a full time teacher and Mom blogging for the public and for social media? Shouldn't she be lesson planning or feeding her son? How negligent! I'll let you in on a little secret - the baby is sleeping, and Mommy is using this site as her outlet. Let me tell you a little bit about myself and why I am here and possibly how I can help you. My name is Lauren Dykstra. I am a mother to an eight month old son named Nik-laus (the German pronunciation of Nicholas.) I am a wife, a daughter, a friend, a sister, and a teacher. I guess you can say I wear many hats. I teach second grade ICT (integrated co-teaching) at a public school in Westchester County, NY and I work with the best darn team and the most amazing group of ladies I've had the pleasure of knowing over the years. My husband is a police officer and is also in the Army National Guard. Talk about a stressful job, especially right now, although his stoic personality would never suggest it. Anyway I digress...

I've always been a passionate teacher and a life-long learner. I'm the kind of teacher who will stay up all night lesson planning for that one child who can't seem to blend letter sounds together to read a word. I'm not saying I'm an anomaly of a teacher, if you're in the field, you understand what I'm talking about, and if you're not in the field, that's okay, I hope this article helps you gain a better sense of what we do and how we internalize and agonize when our students who pretty much become our babies for the year, are struggling. While I always thought being a teacher is what defined me as a person, I was severely mistaken when I gave birth to my son Niklaus who became the best part of my world. Now I could go on about how the journey of motherhood is a blessing and it's the greatest gift you will ever receive in life, but I'm sure you've heard this all before so I don't intend to convince you on this truth. Being with Niklaus and watching him discover the world around him, grow, and get a little personality like screeching at our two dogs when they would bark to go outside so as to mock them, was, and still remains to be the best part of my day. I created this blog as my outlet to show the "battle of the balance," when a wife, mother, and full-time teacher have to play different roles throughout the day and balance it all while trying to maintain our personal goals, physical, and mental health.

We have to understand that we don't just have to be one person, we can be many different people throughout the day as long as we hold on to our core values that we believe to be true. This blog is offering me the opportunity to release my thoughts and gain some perspective in this crazy world of balance. In the realm of being a Mom, I will be interviewing and sharing the stories of successful working mothers who seem to balance everything all at once. You can get tips, advice, and help from these confident, goal-oriented women. In the realm of teaching I will be posting book reviews, academic resource reviews, different online learning tools to use, teaching strategies for student engagement, best practices for literacy, testimonies of programs and online platforms from my daily experiences with my students. We as mothers and teachers need this. We need to have a safe place to go to decompress, and this is mine. If you see a post you like, or if you'd like to share your story and be featured, please reach out to me on this site! I am more than happy to highlight your successes and your "battle of the balance."