A few weeks ago, I had a student in my office that was frustrated that I was meeting with their parents because, "If we make a plan together, it seems like it's not my idea. Last week I decided to start trying, and this week you're telling me that you'll all help me try. I don't want to try if it doesn't seem like it was my idea."
Today, I found myself in the same situation, relating to a middle schooler and laughing/crying on the inside over the irony of it all.
It's amazing how much of my days at this point in the school year is spent thinking about the future. I'm making potential schedules, talking to teachers about course load, preparing beginning of the year information, thinking about the best ways to plan the communication of it all, and overall trying to get the ideas in my brain onto paper in a way that seems at least somewhat organized.
And at this point there are very few people who know all of that because it's just not at the "talk about it" point yet.
In the last 48 hours, several people have come to me with ideas of how we can improve; ways that are already on my list and are already in motion...
...but they didn't know about it yet.
And now, you guessed it, it's no longer my idea, but theirs.
And that's frustrating.
It's frustrating to do work and not get the credit you feel that you deserve for it, whether or not you actually deserve it.
And part of me wants to quote that middle schooler mentioned earlier. Sometimes, if it doesn't seem like it was my idea, I'm not sure that I want to try anymore.
I don't mean that. I do want to try. I want to do the best that I can at my job and help our school be the best that it can be.
That said, I'm learning just how much of my current job is lived behind the scenes....
...and trying not to identify with (or act like) my middle schoolers too much ;)
Today, I found myself in the same situation, relating to a middle schooler and laughing/crying on the inside over the irony of it all.
It's amazing how much of my days at this point in the school year is spent thinking about the future. I'm making potential schedules, talking to teachers about course load, preparing beginning of the year information, thinking about the best ways to plan the communication of it all, and overall trying to get the ideas in my brain onto paper in a way that seems at least somewhat organized.
And at this point there are very few people who know all of that because it's just not at the "talk about it" point yet.
In the last 48 hours, several people have come to me with ideas of how we can improve; ways that are already on my list and are already in motion...
...but they didn't know about it yet.
And now, you guessed it, it's no longer my idea, but theirs.
And that's frustrating.
It's frustrating to do work and not get the credit you feel that you deserve for it, whether or not you actually deserve it.
And part of me wants to quote that middle schooler mentioned earlier. Sometimes, if it doesn't seem like it was my idea, I'm not sure that I want to try anymore.
I don't mean that. I do want to try. I want to do the best that I can at my job and help our school be the best that it can be.
That said, I'm learning just how much of my current job is lived behind the scenes....
...and trying not to identify with (or act like) my middle schoolers too much ;)
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