Learning to Lean

I know those who read my posts must be tired of my musical references by now, but I can’t help myself. I’m one of those people who always has a song in her head and the topic for this reflection made me think of a song called “Learning to Lean on Jesus.” I’m supposed to write about something that I’ve learned as a result of my Kenan Fellowship that will change how I teach next year. Well, since I teach adults in my position, my Kenan Fellowship experience will be applied to my teaching a little differently than most, but let’s get back to that song first. So the song is called “Learning to Lean on Jesus” and the chorus goes “I’m learning to lean, learning to lean. I’m learning to lean on Jesus. Finding more power than I’ve ever seen. I’m learning to lean on Jesus.” The elderly ladies at my church used to sing it often and the song is about letting Jesus be your support and guide and how trusting in him will allow you to weather life’s storms and emerge victorious. Strangely enough, my Fellowship with Homebase has a lot in common with this song. I have spent my summer and will spend my fall and spring, helping teachers learn to lean on one another for instructional support, and collaboration through using the tools and potential sharing power in Homebase. Now, by no means am I equating Homebase with Jesus, but collectively the power that we have as teachers when we turn to one another as professionals, share, and talk about how to design and implement high quality instruction is much greater than when we work away alone in our classrooms. I can definitely say that the Kenan experience this summer has energized me to collaborate more with my colleagues AND to help the teachers I work with to collaborate with others in positive and meaningful ways as well. When we work together, we strengthen our profession. Our solidarity and drive toward a common purpose will help to increase our professional standing and respect with the public which is something public education could really use right now. I hope that I can help teachers build trust and confidence with one another so that they are not afraid to reach out to others in the profession and say “Lean on Me,” “You’ve Got a Friend,”  and let’s “Join Together”…oh the songs we could sing (at least in my head…Ha!) But seriously, if we are going to advance in public education, it will start with teachers sitting down with one another and saying, “let’s do this, together.”