Reflections on 1206 sharing

About 15 colleagues came to the workshop on 12/06, more than my expectation. Though not every one of those who attended really took interest in what Rainbow and I presented (one teacher left five minutes after the presentation), I felt relieved that a couple of "experienced" teachers showed their approval by giving us some constructive feedback. Finally, from what we showed in the website Rainbow and I created for the department, they saw the core spirits and value of sharing. They started to change their views about us.

Honestly speaking, no one has ever asked Rainbow and me to do so much. It is not only time-consuming but also pain-taking in the process of creating a website like ours. We needed to learn many things to make up the fact that we are not technical experts. Luckily, Rainbow and I are the same type of people--we enjoy learning and like to try new things. And I am especially grateful that Rainbow supports my ideal and always gives me very practical and constructive suggestions or comments. We make a very good team, and a powerful one. Without her, I couldn't have complete the website project.

Over the past few weeks, while working on the website, I asked myself very often, "Why bother?" "Why do I always want to do things different from others?" "Why can't I just be a 'teaching' teacher?" "What is my mission or ambition?"

Deep down, I have a dream. I know we gradually earn the recognition from our colleagues, but that is not what I care. What I really want is to work in a place where people can really trust each other and talk about their ideas, share burdens and do something innovative. What I dream is a "Community of Practice," for which I work hard to promote the sharing atmosphere. In the end, I can get those like-minded teachers to form a community of practice. The website is used as a sharing platform, and this is the first step towards my dream. Gradually, I think more people will join. And in the end, I can work happily with a group of people who can support each other and learn from each other. I don't think this is a selfish thinking because every member in the community can benefit from the cooperation and collaboration.

While I regard this as my mission, Rainbow doesn't show as much enthusiasm in this aspect. She always teases me that I have too big an ambition to fulfill. Compared with me, she is more emotionally independent. In the past, she didn't care what other people were doing in their teaching. But she admits that in recently years, for some reason (I might be a big factor, she said), she has learned to share and to contribute. But she still doesn't want to influence other people or to coordinate a COP. "If they don't come and if they don't want to learn, leave them alone." "They'll suffer once they need to use the skills we have learned," she said this when I said how pitiful it is that some of our young teachers don't know how to grab the learning opportunities and resources that our school provides. She's got her points! After all, not all teachers need to know how to integrate ICT into teaching. And most teachers feel comfortable working alone in their classroom. They can have their choice and they take the consequence for their decision. Why do I need to feel worried for them?

I agree with Rainbow, but I will still make more efforts to realize my dream.