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It’s Not About You
Some thoughts on ego in teaching
For a long time, I’ve considered my teaching to be pretty ego-free. Like any human, I certainly have an ego. In saying that my teaching is pretty ego-free, I don’t mean that I’m removing myself or my expertise from the context of my work. Like any teacher, I hold a lot of power over students in my working life. I’m not pursuing the annihilation of the self here or anything like that.
What I mean when I say that I try to pursue ego-free teaching is more about how loosely I hold on to a vision of teacher-me that puts my needs before those of my students. When I make choices in my work, I’d like to think I almost always do so with my students’ best interests firmly in mind. But I also know that I’m not perfect, and I’ll get things wrong at times. In those moments, the best thing I can do is avoid tightening my grip on the choices I’ve made. Instead, it’s better to remain open to hearing from others — colleagues, students, anyone else with a thought— and work toward adjustments that lead to better outcomes. It’s about not assuming my perspective is better simply because it’s mine.
This isn’t easy, but I think I’ve done it enough now that it’s become relatively baked into who I am as a teacher. I do my best to listen to other people. I try things; they fail. I ask how to improve them, and we make changes…
