Last week, I had my first ever coaching session. As instructed, I came with my topic for discussion. However, within a few minutes, we’d touched on another of “my issues”, namely:
What am I? What do I do?
At this point in time, I consider myself to be in a transition phase so answering this question was not clear cut. What I did confirm was my reluctance to label myself “teacher”. That’s what my mother was – very successfully. Am I just a follow-on from my mother? Have I not managed to forge my own unique path in life?
Delving into the psychology of my mother-daughter issues is not my aim here. Exploring my development as a teacher of English as a foreign language is. The process started a while ago – informally. The thing with development is that it’s important to track and record. So, this blog will be my forum for doing that; doing it “publicly” is a bit of an experiment to see whether my issues are common to others too. I suspect they may well be.
Anyway, back to the coaching. My coach and I did get onto the main topic eventually. We agreed to leave the teacher-trainer issue for another time (or for a different kind of professional!). The development of my business was what I wanted to explore. How to move from weekly 90 minute classes to only offering workshops over 2 to 3 days. Although this move seems to be happening of its own accord, I want to proactively manage it and capture the potential I see here.
For now let me leave you with this thought from a guy called John Dewey:
“The self is not something ready made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.”
Try to take time for yourself and your own development - in fact, keep developing, never stop!
Yours,
Michelle
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