Monday, September 6, 2010

It's not about you (or me either)


It's the start of a new year, and I find myself this year collaborating with a lot more teachers in presenting courses than I did last year. A lot of our collaboration has taken place over such shared files as Google.docs, as well as emails.

One collaboration that I especially value is with a younger teacher who has not taught Humanities before, but who has a lot of energy and good ideas. It would be easy to fall into some sort of 'competition' as to who had the most kid-friendly, or tech-savvy class. It would be easy to take the casual email a bit personally, but it would be a serious mistake. What she's reminds me is that there is much I don't know, and I need to be open to it, whether it comes from her or from elsewhere.

One of my former administrators once said 'you can't take what goes on in school personally'. The more I teach, the more I find that I'm a better teacher if I don't let my ego get in the way.

Photo "No Ego, but 'Go' by Janice Frasier, clevergirl used under Creative Commons copyright.

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