Every once in a while I try and take a shift in our boarding house. It is a tough gig, working all day, then the evening shift and missing the first quiet hour of the next morning, missing out on an evenings family time, but occasionally it is most definitely worth it.
The benefits are clear, I get a better appreciation of the experience our student boarders have and being a little better than most of them at table-tennis and pool, earn some bragging rights as well. I get to know them better as individuals, and as community. I have a better appreciation of the additional commitment our boarding staff contribute with the time before lights out and alarms on, providing an opportunity to get to know our staff better.
As with most teacher groups, the conversation flickered between general conversation and ‘shop’, somewhat biased towards teaching. I learnt about their careers paths and wider life experiences, their inspirations and reservations, which understandably focused on taking steps into the unknown. One PE colleague had been asked to teach six periods of maths and another was considering her next career steps, both creating a degree of reticence.
My response was to encourage both staff to re-frame their dilemma and to use these situations to their advantage; to explore their teaching practice, to experiment and potentially shift their own personal teaching horizons.
Rare and arduous is the opportunity to teach another subject, especially a core subject, yet it presents such a protected and unique CPD opportunity. When else is a teacher afforded such professional compassion as when teaching outside their specialism? When can we make so many mistakes and be forgiven?
As Danish Physicist David Bohr said “an expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field,” and this situation in particular present a wonderful opportunity to make numerous new mistakes.
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