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Meaningful Work

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I have often questioned the work that I do and its meaning. When I am gone, will my teaching have been a fruitless effort?

I became a teacher to do meaningful work and to have a positive impact on the world around me. In my efforts, I have gone on to make a career of supporting teachers in this 'good' work. At its heights, this work has given me hope. However, I have seen its depths. I have seen 'great' teachers crushed. I have seen 'amazing' students neglected. I have seen 'strong' work washed away like so much triviality. I have seen education pushed aside and beaten down by politics and economics. At these times, I doubt if what we do as educators (that term including everyone who teaches and learns) is doing anything.

At these moments, I have clung to the maxim that if you put a 'good' teacher in front of students with as little as a piece of chalk and a board and learning will occur. The statement has given me hope. It has been a security blanket that I pull across myself (and others) as I try to hold onto the warmth of belief and trust.

Today, I am challenged. I look at the blanket. It is worn. It has holes. It has thinned out and does not give me the same comfort. No one appears in a rush to share it with me at the moment.

So here I am. Like everyone, I have the option to accept that I have been living a lie and choose a new vocation. I can accommodate the notion that the 'good' teacher is  not enough. I can adapt and do what 'good' I can when I can. Or I can reject my doubts altogether and forge on.

I have always been particularly stubborn, even as a child. I do not like being told that I cannot do something. I was told I had asthma so I took up running. I was told I was too shy so I took up acting. I have no choice I will forge on. I will put this maxim to the test.

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Location: Queen Alexandra Edmonton

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