Today I received an email from a first-year teacher that teaches the same subject but at a different campus in our district. She is not happy with the situation she has found herself in:
- No support
- No materials
- No guidance
- No plans
Three years ago, when I took the spot I am currently in, there were filing cabinets full of activities and materials. This left me to wonder about how vastly different our jobs looked like at the start of a school year in our first day on a new job. As such, I pose the question to you, no matter where you find yourself in your career: what will it be like for the person taking your place?
There is one attitude that acknowledges that everything created and developed is mine and I am going to take it with me (or at least not let others have access to it). This mindset seems most prevalent in our world, especially in highly-competitive markets where profits are at stake, but for far too many it has crept quietly into the realm of education. This mindset is devastating for continuity and progress as far as our students are concerned.The other mindset says that if you walked out of your position today, the person following you should be able to not only pick up where you left off, but be prepared well enough to progress beyond where you ended.
On the one hand, we have someone concerned about their own ego, their own image, and their own prestige.
On the other hand, we have someone ready and willing to lay it all out there for the success of our students.
It’s a shared future, after all. It isn’t a zero-sum game and we all have a dog in this fight.
