Mentors

I’ve been very lucky to have a great coworker from whom I’ve learned a great deal. We’ve had amazing conversations about teaching and learning. We’ve developed curriculum. Debated goals and processes. Shared links and articles. Random meetings in the hallway have lead to hour long conversations.

I owe much of what I do well to what he has taught me.

Last month I found out he’s leaving – pursuing the next step of his career. While I am very happy for him, the staff he will lead, and the students he will help, I was sad for me. I worried that there would be no one to push me to be better. I worried that the conversations wouldn’t continue.

While I will still miss him, I’ve gotten past my sadness (and fear). I’ve realized that the conversations can still happen – I just need to involve more people. I’ve realized that I may have to push myself a bit more. I’ve shared with him that I hope I can continue to learn from him in this new phase of his career. I may – or I may not. Things change. People move on.

I just read this post of Dan’s. I never ran into Dan in the hallway. We never worked together on curriculum design. I never observed a single class of his. Yet he was still a mentor.

I’ve learned a lot from you these past few years Dan. Thank you for sharing all that you did. Thank you for pushing my thinking. I hope I can continue to learn from you too.