About Mrs. Roberson

Update 9/5/2021 – I last updated the info below about about eight years ago. A lot has changed since then. I’m no longer nomadic, finally settled in central Wisconsin. I have two daughters – one in elementary school and one in preschool. I currently teach middle school language arts part time, though I think I’ll always consider myself a “high school teacher”. I took a break from blogging when my daughters were born to focus on family, but I’m back now, and just as excited about teaching as ever!

Everything else below holds true. I first wrote it nine years ago, during a state of constant flux and a phase of life when I was literally moving cross-country every three months. I poured my passion for teaching into my blog because it was the only thing I had. It’s my history and I don’t want to erase it, despite my life changes. Plus, my opinions about teenagers haven’t changed, so it’s worth a read to get to know me better.

About Me:  I’m Mrs. Roberson.  I am a Christian high school English teacher with a passion for teens.  My husband and I move a lot, so in the past five years I’ve lived and worked in six different states, and we still aren’t “settled” yet (now we are).  Throughout my career I’ve been a full-time English teacher, substitute teacher, SAT Prep and College Admissions teacher, private tutor, and youth group mentor.  I’ve been married for seven (now 14) wonderful years, and my husband and I have a happy, energetic goldendoodle (she passed – now we have two different dogs).  I have nerdy tendencies, as demonstrated by my love of Shakespeare, dystopian literature, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Firefly, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who.  My husband has managed to educate me on the world of comic book super heroes well enough to impress my students.

I think teenagers are amazing people.  I love their enthusiasm and energy.  I love how they believe they can change the world – and the crazy thing is, they aren’t wrong.  If you think teens are inherently lazy bums incapable of working hard and achieving great things, a lot of what I have to say isn’t going to make sense to you.

About the Blog:  Emerging Adulthood.  The Rise of the “Kidult.” The Boomerang Generation.  Peter Pan Syndrome.   However you want to spin it, for good or for bad, young people today are taking longer to grow up.  Nowadays, people can take as long as their late twenties or early thirties before they fully shoulder the responsibilities of adult life.  This trend worries me.  I wonder when we’ll reach Neverland, when people just won’t grow up at all.

There is a fundamental gap in the education system when it comes to preparing teens and young adults for the realities of life after academics, and I want to help solve the problem.  I was initially inspired by the works of Marcus Buckingham and Alex & Brett Harris.  The Harris brothers speak to the incredible potential of the teen years, while Marcus Buckingham focuses on strengths – what are they, how to discover them, what we do with them, etc.  I want to combine these ideas, bringing strength-based training to the teen level, and combine it with revamped career explorations.  I want to launch teens into the adult years with an exciting vision for their future, instead drifting into it unprepared.  I have the big ideas, but I still have a long way to go.

Now that I’ve been blogging for a while, I should also add that I like to write pieces of my own story into my musings.  I share anecdotes from my travels and diverse career experiences along the way.  I also reflect on my high school experience a fair amount (see here and here for the most significant bits).   And since I’m the introspective type, I also wrote a whole post about why I write about my adolescence, so feel free to check that one out as well.  🙂

As a final note, I invite the teenagers to participate in this blog.  Seriously, if you’re still reading this, I really want your input!  You are, after all, the front line and the insiders of my mission.  Please help me with my brainstorming!  Tell me what you want to know more about, what frustrations you face in high school, and what things you’d like to see discussed here.  You’re why I’m doing this, so please dive in with me!

Thank you!