Facing the Unfamiliar & Portrait of Possibility-Response

I am a time hoarder. I never have enough time to get what I want to get done, whether personally or professionally. I always could have graded more papers, monitored more students, developed a major crisis response drill for the students, called more friends or even my mom. Even though I could feel guilty about being a time hoarder, I actually think it helps to keep me focused and a bit uncomfortable because I'm always finding new ways to grow as a person, personally and professionally; and, the stress of being successful in personal relationships and/or work can add to this need to be a time hoarder. It does keep me vulnerable, however, and available to my students. Vulnerability does require accepting that we do not have all the answers nor do we always need to be right. Teachers and administrators can fall victim to this out of a need to project strength and not weakness; unfortunately, this leads to being ineffective with faculty, students, and parents.

In the reading, Durka comments that most people would probably pick neighbors, family members, siblings, or friends when asked to name two people who have been the most important teachers in their life, and those same people would list character traits to explain their choices. Well, I probably would pick a family member, but I would also pick several school teachers along the way. I would choose them because of who they were (compassionate, patient, faith-filled, strong) and not necessarily what they taught. The emotional and spiritual makeup of an educator is a large part of why someone is successful in a school, and those who were meant to work with students were given certain traits. Being an educator can be a choice, but it's really a calling. Someone's effectiveness in a school is based on that difference.