Build a Better You

It’s been ages since I’ve blogged and I’m making a strong intention to get back into it as it is so rewarding to think my way through thoughts and ideas that I have related to teaching and learning.

The thought that I would like to share today is one that I have been reflecting on a lot lately, especially in regards to my professional role at The KAUST School in Saudi Arabia. As a pedagogical coach, my job is to help teachers along their journeys of self-improvement in order to have a positive impact on the learning of their students. I love my job and am constantly inspired to make a difference to the teachers that I work with, as well as my peer coaches and other leaders in our school.

However, in being in this role, it is important for me to critically reflect on my own performance and what it takes to be able to make a genuine difference in the work that I do. It is easy to get so focused on my own work that I can sometimes lose sight of the importance of self-improvement.

Showing up, day in and day out, and trying to be our best self is no easy task and there are days, without question, that we will fall flat. But, when we experience days such as this, it is important to reflect on what went wrong and why it went wrong in order to better understand ourselves.

I recently came across these words in a poem that was shared in a talk that I had seen on You Tube. I was inspired to write the words up on our chalkboard wall at home as a strong reminder to myself, my wife Neila, and our two boys, Eli and Tai that building a better version of ourselves each and every day is how we can help to build a better world. Our growth is squarely on our own shoulders and we have a responsibility to focus on self-improvement on a daily basis.

For any educators reading this post, I thought I’d share these words with you as a reminder that our profession demands a lot from us, but with each passing day, we need to continue to grow and learn in order to keep making a difference to those around us. Thanks for reading folks.