We Can't All Be Cannon Ballers

     I have a dear colleague at school who is an excellent teacher and with whom I love to work. However, we are as different as chalk and cheese, as she would say. And so, we often don't see eye to eye and even get frustrated with each other. I'll use a swimming metaphor to explain us. I'm the one running at full speed, cannon balling off the dock, and coming up with algae in my teeth, laughing and splashing around. Give me something new, and I'll try it. If it's not for me, I move on. My friend, however, she'll sit on the edge of the dock, stick in her toes to test the water, lower herself in gingerly checking for the bottom, and then she'll swim about peacefully. So in the real world, I'm all about experimenting, and she likes step-by-step directions. I feel like creativity blossoms when barriers and certain expectations are removed. My counterpart, she's trying to prevent the frustration that leads to burn out.
     One day, as she was wanting directions and I was wanting free exploration, I realized she is the yang to in yin. Balance. Yes, we need to fail forward, and yes, we need direction. To go back to the analogy: Niether approach to swimming in the lake is wrong, nor is either necessarily better. So I have realized that in teaching, I need to get out of the way of the cannon ballers in order to let them learn from their mistakes. But I also need to allow time and space for the toe dippers to ease their way into something new, and maybe even hold a hand now and then.
     But then of course, it can be good fun to just push someone in.

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