Jeanmarie Martin

I attribute much of my success to perseverance and drive. When I am in motion, I'm going pretty hard. My success is definitely a direct result of my drive and my desire to do well in my chosen field. I think my personality matches the service-oriented nature of education. At my core, I'm very empathetic, and I'm a people person. I like to help and contribute which is a direct match for an educator. Even though I didn't start out knowing I wanted to be a teacher, once I committed to it, I told myself that I was going to rock my career. I said I'm going to get hired in either Bedford or Scarsdale, both high-performing districts, and I'm going to put myself in position to excel in my career. And that's exactly what I did. I attribute the possibility of success to what these days might be known as manifesting. Pretty much every good thing in my life…my career, my family, my time spent abroad, can be attributed to simply giving voice to a desire that came from somewhere deep within. Once you identify it, you start to move toward it, and somehow a clearing is made and an opportunity appears. My faith tells me that this is made possible by a combination of humility and devotion. About ten years into my career, I pursued a second master's degree in special education while working full-time with a newborn and a toddler. It was the most challenging time of my career, but I kept it together and even managed to graduate with a 4.0. That perseverance and commitment to doing well, even when things were overwhelming, that's what drove my success.

Don’t ever take yourself too seriously. And if and when possible, unless you truly enjoy it, don’t work summers.

It's really important to find your colleagues to whom you can turn. Seek out a mentor. I had a teacher mentor who helped me so much when I was starting out, because there are parts of teaching that you're great at and many parts that you're not so good at when you're new, and that stands to reason. Having a mentor made such a difference, so I would say looking for a mentor is critical. They’ll believe in you even when you don’t. Second to that is relying on your team and seeking out support from your team or your colleagues. Don't be shy about that. We all have strengths and weaknesses, even in leadership positions. Get to know what yours are then work those strengths and embrace the shortcomings because both will likely always be a part of you. Learn how, in your particular role, to compensate for weaknesses as best you can. Then forgive yourself when you come up a little short, because you will, time and time again in any number of ways. In terms of working and collaborating with others, I feel I have a pretty good personality for that. I'm very adaptable, flexible, and collaborative. I know how to set a boundary, I think even as a young person I did, but in a way that promotes collaboration, not confrontation.

Sadly, with the current demands being put on teachers to wear so many hats, burnout is at an all time high. There's just so much need in the general ed. classroom, and striving to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of 20+ students in today’s society is beyond exhausting. The opportunity during my career that I really enjoyed most was the interventionist position. I got to work with small groups of students and really apply all that I’d learned through my special education degree. I could really dig in to identify gaps, to find out what students needed, and see what I could do to help.

The golden rule, even on my worst day.