Colleague is a bit
of a shopworn word these days. It
originated in Middle French and meant, literally, “partner in office.” Its Latin roots trace to “with” and “to
choose.” People with whom we choose to
work. It’s the choosing that matters
most, I think. We can work in the same
place and never work WITH one another.
We can, in fact, work against one another, a fact to which many in the
business world will attest.
Teachers have generally been the epitome of colleagues. We even serve as mentors to apprentices
through student teaching. Any college
student who wants to become a teacher must work with teachers in the classroom
in order to best learn how to be teachers themselves. Most veteran teachers who have had student
teachers will tell you that a positive student teaching experience benefits
both members of the teaching team; our student teacher leaves with a toolbox of
ideas for the beginning of his/her new career, and we of the old guard are left
with an infusion of new ideas and energy.
We share with one another from the start of our career, and the
tradition continues throughout our years.
Still not sure we work WITH one another? Simply Google “lesson plans,” and you will be
met with countless websites where teachers have offered up ideas that worked
for them. Think about the extra step
that takes: teachers not only prepare
plans for their own students, they then take the time to offer up those ideas
to help others. In most cases, this is
done for no pay or recognition. Why on
earth would anyone waste their time, then, posting lesson plans online?
It’s in a teacher’s nature, I believe, to teach. I have written before about teaching being a calling, and this need to explain to and help other people runs through the
very core of this calling. Most of us
would say that we have been teaching other people for as long as we can
remember; even if it is sometimes cleverly disguised as bossiness. J
Sadly, we have reached a new time in teaching. I say “sadly” because I fear it will
challenge this giving part of our collective nature. If it is, indeed, natural for teachers to
teach, explain, share, then surely competitive evaluations are a potential
stumbling block. Most people drawn to
teaching are share-ers by nature, and if they aren't, they quickly learn that
sharing is the norm in a healthy school environment. If the only goal that really matters is
helping the kids succeed, it stands to reason that we should share the best
ways to do this.
Political leaders should have the same philosophy. If the only goal that really matters is
helping people in the community, shouldn't they all be working together to
achieve this? I can’t imagine any
politician having the nerve to say “no” out loud to this question. Instead of working with one another, however,
they seem determined to tear the rest of us apart. Busting up unions; publishing work
evaluations; giving cash prizes to highly effective teachers. Each of these can serve to drive us away from
our colleagues. After all, why should I
share with you when it looks better if I came up with the idea all by myself? Even our motivations can become tainted. “I came up with this great plan because of
how it looks for me, not necessarily how it best serves the kids.”
Will we let the new challenges in teaching be a stumbling
block? Or will we lift one another up
and over this stone?
