Right now, I am away at "teacher camp" as I call it. It is a summer internship that is a component of one of the teacher scholarships I received during undergrad. This is my last summer requirement and it is a little awkward since the majority of the 4 weeks is geared toward preparing us for student teaching and the interview process....double check for me! It is my personal goal to humble myself as much as possible and take away as much as I can.
On pretty cool thing about the program is that we will be tutoring middle school students in the inner city in reading/writing/math. I, along with 7 others, volunteered to spear-head the tutoring program. In other words, we are planning the structure and format for the 4 week tutoring program. We will then meet with the other 50 interns and present our proposal for how the program will run. I was a little hesitant after volunteering for this role because I was turned off by some of the "larger-than-life" personalities we have in our planning committee. I totally respect and appreciate the experience and knowledge that other colleagues bring to the table, but I absolutely detest when others feel that their perspective is superior to that of others in the group. There is one girl in particular who seems to feel like she should be calling all of the shots and we should all be following her lead. Collaboration is essential in teaching and I just get annoyed when people don't seem to have received the same memo.
So, in keeping with my philosophy of self-reflecting after a long venting session, I have learned a great lesson in the importance of respecting all work styles, even when I may not feel like mine is being respected. Arguing never did anything to solve an issue and I'm sure it won't start now!! We have a meeting of the minds this evening, so I am praying that as educators we can stay civilized, open for collaboration, and respectful. The main goal is to tutor students in their areas of need and we most certainly cannot achieve that if all of those responsible for the program are bickering the whole time about how things should be.
Lastly, during one of our seminars today, our presenter left us with a great quote:
"Complaining is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere". I love this quote because when we as teachers complain about what is not working or who is not doing what, we spend are time doing something, but not getting anywhere. I will continue to strive to use my time trying to actually get somewhere rather than complaining about it....I challenge you to try it too!!
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That's a great quote and definitely one to live by! I think its normal for people to complain to an extent, if nothing else than to provide a way for us to vent and get our feelings out there. When the complaining is done just to complain, its counterproductive...but if the complaining can spur people on to try to find a solution, I think that can be healthy. I know I personally have had some amazing brainstorms after griping about certain aspects of my teaching -- it has definitely led me to a better place because I haven't been willing to *just* complain. I've taken that complaint to another level and done something with it :)
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