Hi there! I'm Rebekah Shoaf.
Why The Cocoon?
A cocoon is not a coffin, but sometimes it feels that way. As far as it knows, the caterpillar is dying in there. It has no way of knowing what’s on the other side or that it’s going through unrecognizable transformation.
Challenging periods can feel that way to us too, as if something is dying or breaking or being destroyed, and we can’t see the transformation that’s happening yet.
I think a lot about transformation – what it looks like in a classroom, what it feels like at the end of a book, how I’ve survived it in my personal and professional lives and witnessed others doing it too – and I’m sharing those ruminations here to create a sense of community for educators and anyone else trying to make sense of cocoon time.
I also think that education as a whole is in a state of existential transformation, and the demands on teachers and leaders are herculean. My work as a coach and a consultant focuses on the intersection of effectiveness and sustainability: How can we transform classrooms, schools, and systems to align with what students and families want and need while supporting sustainability for the educators on the front lines of that transformation?
What Free Subscribers Get
Monthly posts to inspire the lifelong learner inside every educator, including a personal essay about transformation as I’m currently experiencing it and highlights from the schools I work with as a coach and consultant.
What Paid Subscribers Get
Everything free subscribers get, plus:
Weekly paid posts on reading recs, field trips, lunch dessert, and other ideas for nurturing transformation.
A 1:1 summer coaching session with me ($200 value).
Quarterly workshops on practical topics you can apply in your own life and work.
Access to community challenges to launch new routines and habits your inner lifelong learner will love.
The ability to post comments, join the community, and participate in AMAs.
My gratitude for supporting my work!
You invest in your students for a full year – do the same for yourself with the discounted annual subscription of $50. You deserve opportunities to grow and nurture your inner lifelong learner. Commit to 12 months of reconnecting to why you became an educator in the first place.
About Me
I’m the author of a book about teacher burnout and two Substacks: The Cocoon, a newsletter about transformation in learning, literature, and life, and Red State Blue Balls, on the pleasures, perils, and politics of mid-40s, post-divorce, perimenopausal, red-state dating. I’m also an educational consultant and coach, and social entrepreneur.
I’ve been writing a version of this newsletter since 2017 when I launched Boogie Down Books, a bookstore-without-walls® for kids, teens, families, and educators. Back then I was mostly writing about children’s books and the community literary events I was hosting in and around the Bronx.
Later, when I co-wrote a book about preventing and addressing educator burnout, I started sharing tips, inspiration, and news for teachers and leaders.
This new iteration, The Cocoon, represents where I am now as:
an educational consultant and coach with more than two decades of experience working for a more just and joyful approach to teaching and learning
a human making sense of profound personal, professional, and social change
a writer cultivating the community I needed during my hardest and most traumatic moments of transformation
a magna cum laude Harvard alum, a culinary school graduate, a third-generation Miamian, a marathon runner, the owner of a pink Vespa, and favorite aunt
Learn more about me at rebekahshoaf.com and follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram.
