Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work with a number of colleagues who have made me a better educator.
It’s those regular conversations that you have with a person. It might not be a game changing statement from the person that you made you think about everything differently, but slowly hashing out your philosophy over time.
It has been the colleague that challenged my thought process or my actions over the years. The ones who thought enough of me to say “are you sure?”
It’s the colleague who has learned alongside me and collaborated to make things better for students. Always for students.
While I try to say it, I don’t know that I always let these people know in the moment how much they mean to me. I’ve been greatly impacted by a handful of brilliant educators who I’ve had the pleasure of sharing time and space with.
I’m a better educator for having crossed paths with them.
While many of these people have come and gone during my career, I’m happy to say that I often get to share or connect with these people even though we don’t work together (in a physical space) any more.
I have tried not to take these colleagues for granted because I know that our time together may be fleeting.
So a big THANK YOU to those brilliant colleagues who have helped me to grow as an educator.
You know who you are!
Rich