I am not as good as I thought I was…

….and I think that the problem is that I no more have the time to keep up with writing a blog than I think you have the time to read it.

But, it is the summertime and in the summertime, we educators have more time to think, write, reflect, and watch Jerry Springer.  Or, as of late, spend an awful amount of time on Facebook making sure that we know every comment from our friends on the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

But, I digress.  What we are really here for is the world of edcuation and I would like to relaunch this blog under the above title to indicate to the world that I am not as good as I think I am but….I can be better.

That was our mantra way back in high school band.  Yes, I was a band nerd (and how many of us weren’t?). And, I was a trumpet player.  If any of you know trumpet players, you should know that they are brash, arrogant, egotistical, and loud.  They are also proud of themselves since they always have the lead, are in the front of the line, and there are lots and lots of them.  So, our mantra way back when was “we aren’t as good as we think we are…we’re better.”

A true statment of arrogance in its finest form.  But, let’s think about it for a moment in terms of being an educator.  We all think we are good at what we do but as teachers we get to renew our craft every year in August with a new set of students.  We get to look back at the last year and say to ourselves, “I am/am not going to do that again!”  We actually can say that we are better than what we were yesterday.

So, as you sit at home or on vacation this summer, think about what you can do to improve and less about what you did that was not so good.  Remind yourself that you are as good as you say you are and that you can be better. Besides, we are in the business of learning and we learn as much for our students as they learn from us.