As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? How close or far are you from that vision?

Not far at all.  I wanted to be a teacher. I’ve considered myself a teacher since I graduated from college.  I went to a workshop early on in my career and we had to come up with our personal mission statement; the declarative words that guide our every career move in life.  I remember mine:  I listen, I learn, I teach. That’s it in a nutshell.

My statement is grounded in the mountains of  reading and research I did in graduate school. One book in particular remains with me to this day; and I’ve given it to many of my staff over the years. My friend Matt gave it to me.  He and I did a ton of training together back in the early 1990’s.  He was a real Vermonter; laid back and lover of all things winter.  The book is:  Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach, by Jane Vella.  Matt was trained by the author in the model of adult learning that’s outlined in the book.  It’s served me well for more than 20 years.

Even though I don’t teach in the traditional sense, in a classroom with lots of kids clamoring for attention, I still consider myself a teacher.  Today I’d like to thank Matt for turning me on to a way to teaching that helps me to stay true to my personal mission statement.

 Grown Up Bloggers

• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• When I Grow Up
• As a kid..
• The Simple Life; a treasure to remember
• “If they could see me now..”