This is dedicated to my squad.
My last post was titled “Some Days I Swear I’d Do This Job for Nothing.” Reality, of course, is that not all days are brilliant. Some days are rough. Some days are exhausting. And some days are tear-filled, hair-pulling, sleep-deprived messes. So glad we’re not in it alone.
Like in any aspect of life, a strong support system is essential. You need people who understand your challenges. You need people who celebrate your successes (and who listen when things go south). You need people to laugh with. You need people to vent with. You need people to walk you around the block at lunch when the stress demons are plaguing you. You just need people. So glad we’re not in it alone.
I’ve been a teacher for 21 years, and somehow this job never gets easier. The needs of the kids are still complex. The scope of the challenge is still enormous. And the weight of the importance is still crushing. So glad we’re not in it alone.
Aside from the emotional support, your squad also helps you grow professionally. They give you feedback to improve. They inspire you with their own work. They explore new ideas and approaches with you. They sit and talk teaching and talk learning and talk assessing and talk reading and talk writing and talk counselling and talk coaching… and talk every “ing” you’re responsible for in this profession. They make you better. SO GLAD WE’RE NOT IN IT ALONE!!!
Sometimes the tendency with stuff that challenges us and stuff that isn’t going well is to keep it private. It’s hard to admit it’s hard. Having a squad that you trust and that you know values you, allows you to share. And that is clearly important in terms of moving forward. How do you work out that stuff that isn’t going well if you are insular? That stuff needs to air out. So glad we’re not in it alone.
Collectively we know more and can accomplish more than we can individually. And if we fulfill our potential, then our students are more likely to fulfill their potential. Within our Synergy Project, we have had two areas of focus:
- collaboration
- the Social Responsibility Core Competency
The brilliant thing, I realize now, is that they are actually one area of focus. Our desire to explore the value of a collaborative team is actually us being co-learners with the students we teach because that’s what we ask of them in our classrooms: to be a collaborative team and learn together and support each other. So this has been experiential learning at its finest! Characteristics of community– trust, shared values, acceptance, communication, commitment, reciprocity, accountability, equity, openness, cohesion, respect, participation—are precisely what drive learning in a classroom. And they’re precisely what drive learning among professionals.
So glad we’re not in it alone.
