Teaching is a Team Sport

A fellow teacher named Alice told me something that has helped me out over the years. I was a young teacher at the time and was trying to work hard at a school to distinguish myself from other faculty members. She said, "Shane, teaching is a team sport. Don't try to reinvent the wheel."

Her remark took me off guard. She had noticed how diligently I had been preparing lesson plans, how much I poured myself into my lessons, and she noticed that I was burning out. She was an older, veteran teacher, and she informed me that it was important not only to pace myself, but to not do tasks unnecessarily. She said that the more I networked, the better I could accomplish difficult tasks. "Other teachers can be brilliant, too, Shane," she informed, "so find out what they are doing and see how they can help you."

I was a little stung that she thought I was doing things incorrectly (and that she noticed I thought I was brilliant), but her words hit home. I was really working hard by myself, trying to set myself apart, and I failed to see myself as part of a larger team. I was going solo, and I wasn't going anywhere as quickly as I would have liked (in fact, I had a chip on my shoulder because I felt I was working so hard compared to everyone else that would often sit around and chat).

So I decided to change. I involved myself by speaking to other teachers. I asked questions, showed some of my plans, and gathered information. Alice later would explain that all teachers have a toolbox in which they have collected a number of tools. It was our job as teachers to collect as many useful tools as we could rather than create our own tools. Her words still ring true to me today.

So I shifted to this new approach, and as you can guess, something amazing happened. I found that these fellow teachers of mine had all kinds of tools: resources and ideas and activities that would influence mine. I found that they had ideas that I could use almost every day, and often their ideas were better than mine. In a short time, I became so much more equipped and informed and able to perform in the classroom. I had a toolbox that would have taken me years to create. All because I asked teachers what they were doing.

And ultimately, while I was happy to have improved myself as a teacher, I was also saddened to discover how much I had shortchanged myself by not making myself a part of a group. I had learned that I wasn't just a teacher caring about students on my own, I was a member of a team. And when we worked together, we could accomplish so much more than when we were apart. It was exhilerating and I loved getting ideas. And I made some friends. It was much more fun to be a teacher this way.

And now, get THIS....now I have all of these great ideas that don't come from me at all. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My best ideas are not my own. So if you ever hear me say something or do something you like, make sure you don't just thank me.

Thank Alice.

Balance can be such an impossible task. "Just take time for everything!" says someone who you are sure doesn't understand the intricacies of your life. "Slow down and smell the roses." Oh, is THAT what is wrong with me? I haven't smelled the roses? But you have a major project to get done and you are arguing with the copier to get it printed out and double sided in 42 packets, you have 3 emails to write to students for an assignment from last Monday, you have to assess new students in a placement test called the "John's test" for some reason, and you just forgot...you have a gift waiting to be picked up for Valentine's Day this weekend. So when someone calls you up and invites you to the Sun's basketball game tonight and you just can't, just CAN'T say yes, even though you really want to, then you think, "Man, my life is out of balance" (please replace "you" with "Shane" for added effect).

All of this is just theoretical, of course.

So balance is hard. But there are some areas where I think balance is the key to success. Here's a saying I like:

"It is achievement, not work, that makes people happy."

This may sound rather obvious, but I think many of us in our own lives don't get this concept. Achievement is what fuels people, not work. Industry alone, work alone, just isn't enough. I have known countless friends who work themselves to the bone and feel nothing but despair and loneliness. I know others who work hard and feel content and happy. How come? Well, I think we can start with the idea that what truly makes all the work worth it is if we actually value the work. Is it something we actually believe in? Does what you do make you feel like you are achieving in life, moving forward and progressing? Well, why the heck not?

And here is a related tangent. I like to think of setting one goal in my life that has nothing to do with teaching. Some sort of achievement that only me, myself, and I value. Maybe it is to join a choir, plant a garden, learn another language, or plan a trip with my family. It doesn't matter as long as I think it matters. But generally it is something concrete and finite. It is something I truly, truly want. And then, well, I work for it. I work for it because I know it is what I want. And when I accomplish it, it makes me feel warm and toasty all over (I know you know what I am talking about). And the funny thing is, it helps me be a better teacher. When it all comes down to it, you can't teach a lie. You can only teach who you truly are. And when you have balance, true balance, you are at peace with what you are doing and how you are going about doing it. You might be taxed, you might be really burdened, but it is the good kind of burden, the burden that you yourself believe in. And that is a very good thing to come into the classroom with (not to mention outside of the classroom).

I see so many teachers work instead of achieve. I do it myself, all the time. But there are those rare times when I know that what I am doing has value to me, and then there is joy in the work. It makes it tolerable to me. I know I'm not just in some kind of mindless pursuit for money or to keep my head above water.

Because what I do matters. And that gives me the courage to stay balanced.