Joan Cansdale (@joancansdale) | #BowTieTuesday
Introduction: Another Tuesday, another #BowTieTuesday Educator Spotlight! This week my Spotlight is being shined upon another educator that I met in my doctoral program. I have had the pleasure of getting to know her more personally as we are both members of the Teacher Leadership concentration. The Edu-Rock Star that I’ll be recognizing this week is none other than Mrs. Joan Cansdale (@joancansdale), an English Language Arts supervisor at Plainfield Public Schools.
Educational Pursuit: An established veteran in the world of education, Joan has spent over two decades in education. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Montclair State, master’s degree from the Teachers College at Columbia University in addition to a master’s in education from The College of New Jersey. Currently, she’s stuck with me in our doctoral program at Rutgers University.
Why pursue a career in education? Joan called it predestination. Education chose her. No matter what areas of interest she pursued, she always found herself teaching. Despite actively planning not to be a teacher, not because she didn’t love it, but because, as a young woman, she didn’t want to be “ordinary”, she wound up in a classroom, this time on the other side! Little did she realize that teaching is anything but ordinary!
Most Memorable Moment: Short and succinct, much like our professors remind us about our writing style, Joan considers the years she worked with colleagues in a “school within a school” program to be one of the most significant.
Personal Learning Interests: We were subject to a “brutal” lecture this week on performing a quantitative analysis of survey data. Being a mathematics teacher, I was right at home. Joan, jokingly, informed me that while she wouldn’t consider it much of a personal learning interest as much as she does a survival skill at this point in our doctoral program.
Rest assured, Joan, I have your back!
The Fun Stuff
Joan’s go-to Karaoke Song: I Won’t Back Down by Tom Petty
Joan’s Inside Scoop: In a previous life, Joan was a dancer and fitness trainer.
Thank you, Joan, for your heartfelt efforts to improve education each and every day you step foot inside a classroom. I am truly grateful to have crossed paths and am fortunate to be on the receiving end of your wisdom and insight. The positive impact you have had on my PLN is limitless! I truly appreciate all that you do to keep moving education forward.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Bow-Tie Joe
