Today I stepped onto a plane bound for Corpus Christi, Texas. It isn’t my bi-annual book pilgrimage but another substantial journey of the mind and in some ways the spirit. I talk about being a teacher from time to time. It is never something I actively wanted to do. I never turned to anyone and said, “I want to teach.” Yet here I am. I teach because it is who I am, the same way I write because I don’t know how to not to. That being said, an understanding of personal purpose in no way ensures ones ability. I am an average teacher. I am above average in desire, but the execution is incomplete. I haven’t reached that place psychologically or organizationally where I can put it all together in a one clean stroke, so that every student will get the level of learning they need from the course. So, I go on these journeys to better myself and to cement my understanding of my purpose. Some days I think I go on these journeys in order to lock myself into a particular role or function within teaching, because it is in my nature to want to do everything and give all I have to that impossible pursuit, in which winding up doing very little for everything and not enough for any specific thing.
That core point above is what I’ve worked the hardest to change over the last few years and been most successful changing. It shows in the way I choose my classes and my conferences. This conference, for example, is about Learning Communities. I’ve dedicated myself to being the consummate learning community instructor. That means understanding how what you do in class and what you teach connects to the wider world as well as connects to the content and purpose of the other courses with which you are integrated.
Chances are you’ll see at least one post about such business this weekend. With any luck I’ll also find the time to make my football picks.