Competition and Collaboration

Competition is good. Competition is needed. Yes, you can have competition and collaboration at the same time. That is what separates the okay teams from the great ones.

I have been an athlete my entire life. In my experience, competition is what pushes athletes to do better and be better. That constant push to get better takes a drive that is inside every competitive person.

Having said that, my entire athletic life has been on teams. I have never competed in anything on an individual basis. So, to me, working together (collaboration) is a necessity for teams to achieve their goals. It is about sacrificing individual stats for the betterment of the team.

When does it go awry? When people are more focused on themselves over the team. Think about teams that you have heard described as having "that it factor". To me, that factor is a collective understanding that the success of everyone is far more important than the individual. As the famous saying goes: "The name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back of it."

Collaboration helps people push towards a common goal while sharing resources and talents. A great team is a tremendous example of this.

Competition is good. Competition is needed, but it must be the kind that keeps the focus on improving the team first, the individual second.

10 Things I Wish Admin Knew

After reading a post by Rich Czyz from 4 o'clock faculty about 10 Things I Wish Teachers Knew, I started thinking about 10 things that I wish Admin knew. After some thought, here is what I have as my list:

1. If you add something to my plate, please remove something as well.

2. Just a small bit of recognition goes a long way.

3. Support me in public and I will run through a wall for you.

4. I secretly feel like a scolded student when asked to report to your office.

5. I lose sleep over failing students.

6. Please respect the chain of command. Have parents speak to me first about issues in my classroom.

7. I have very little "free" time during school hours. Or after school for that matter...

8. I want Professional Learning days to excite and motivate me. 

9. I am a learner as well. Sometimes it takes me a while to learn new tech/methods. Have the same patience with me as you want me to have with my students.

10. All I really want is what's best for my students as well. And I am exhausted from doing that...

Did I leave anything out? What would you add? Many thanks to Rich for getting me thinking about this...