My Own Advice: Q-TIP

When our KTOY Team presents to different groups, Walt speaks about the importance of having a sense of humor and not taking yourself too seriously. I always follow it up with my Q-TIP (Quit Taking It Personally- not the musician) comments which include things like "as soon as you start thinking about yourself, you have taken the focus away from student learning." Well, it is time to practice what I preach I guess! We have a feedback survey that we encourage people to fill out after hearing our presentation. There are many positive comments left for us and we take to heart all the suggestions that have been left. In fact, we have changed some of what we do based on the feedback we have received. However, yesterday, someone left us some really negative feedback and even questioned if they "want to be in education after hearing our presentation as they didn't want to work with people like us." WOW. I took it personally - it made me take a step back and question what I am doing. I immediately got defensive and focused on myself. The thoughts flowed quickly in my mind:
"Do they know how much time and energy we spend on this?"
"Our whole goal is to inspire and motivate future educators!"
"We try to do this presentation with honesty, humility, and passion."

This person left feedback with comments like "you all should be back in your classroom teaching kids if you really cared about student learning." That is the one that hit the hardest for me. I often think that privately to myself too. Maybe that is why it was so hard to read. I do care about my students - probably more than they are even aware. I am worried about the student that is soon to be a dad...the student whose grandpa is dying....the student that got kicked out of their house. I also worry about what they are learning while I am gone. However, I know in my heart, they are in good hands with my substitute and learning goes on without me. I still worry though - it is what I do. So, how do I answer that question? Yes, I care about my students....I care so much that I am out learning more about teaching and student learning than I have ever learned in all my 19 years of teaching. It is hard work...harder and more time consuming that I ever thought possible. Just this week alone, I have read 3 books and have done 5 presentations and visited with 2 different schools and departments about programs. I am bringing what I learn back to my school and the students will benefit. Just this week, the math department discussed making some changes in the way we "do business" that will impact student learning. More than anything else, I want to improve my student's learning through this experience.

So - it is time to reflect on the comment, ask myself what I can do to improve the presentation, how can we better communicate our message to ALL groups of students, and Q-TIP! What a great lesson this has been for me. Of all the positive comments left, I am focusing on the one negative one. I will remember this when teaching...one negative comment can delete the other 20 positive ones in a flash. It is something I knew but needed reminded of. I can't wait to see my students again....I am going to give them so many positive comments that their "inbox" will overflow! (I think I will also go back and read those adorable cards that were given to me at Riverview!)