Tunnel Vision

Our cohort gets together on Wednesday's and Thursday's for classes, with those days featuring long 8 hour sessions. Towards the end of the sessions someone mentioned how the other cohort thought that we were... the dot dot dot is because my mind started to tail off, as it usually does, with respect to the other cohort. Am I glad that there are others seeking entrance to the teaching profession? Yes, as the teaching profession needs good people, with good ideas, and a willingness to create safe and caring learning environments. I'm not thrilled to be competing with them for positions when hiring starts, but competition is a good thing as well.

Where I'm going with this is the idea that teacher certification requires blinders. You can't worry about the other 30+ people in the other cohort. You also can't necessarily be bent out of shape by other people in your own cohort. We're all on individual learning journeys. I liken it to running a marathon, something I have done 5 times. We're all in a race together, agreed? We're all going towards the same finish line, no? If I start to worry about the person next to me, seeing them pass me at mile 18, should I worry about them? Probably not. My use of extra energy here will likely hurt me a few miles later (when I want to draw on energy I have already used!). What do you do then? You continue with the plan you have (assuming you have one), and go at a pace that is suitable. At this point, it isn't worth it to worry when I don't have the time or energy to expend. I've got too much else to do. Student teaching starts March 23rd.