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.