Growing up I was constantly playing sports. I literally spent all my free time playing on some sort of competitive team, and as I look back on that time of my life I can honestly say that I learned so many great life lessons from my time as an athlete. One of those lessons was that being a utility player has its advantages.
Early on in my athletic career I struggled because I never felt like I was great at any one thing. I felt like I was an all around good basketball player, but I was never the fastest kid, the tallest player, or biggest scorer. When I played softball I was not known for being "the best" shortstop; rather I played almost every position throughout my short career. In an effort to show transparency I must admit that I'm an overachiever to the core, so this sense of never being "the best"or having a "specialty" really nagged at me. I felt like I was never good enough. I was incomplete, dare I say, even a failure.
Then one day it dawned on me....Maybe not having just one specialty or focus is okay. In fact, maybe it's even a good thing! I slowly realized that because I developed a variety of skills that I was good at (even though I may not have been "the best") I got to become a central part of my team. I began to notice that I was a utility player; I was a person that could play many roles with a sense of competence. I could effectively play numerous positions or perform a variety of skills, and as a result, I was able receive a lot of playing time on the court and offer substantial contributions to the successes of my team.
Now here I am, years removed from my athletic days, and this concept of being a utility player still seems relevant in my life. This is my third year as a high school social studies teacher at an international school in South Korea. I love teaching and blogging (see my personal blog here) and after getting some experience under my belt in both arenas I have decided that I want to contribute to the conversation of how to be an educator in the 21st Century. However, as I have been mulling over this idea to start a professional blog I have felt discouraged because if I am going to start a blog I need some "thing" to blog about. In order to make a worthy contribution to my field I need to be an expert at something like history, technology, or educational pedagogy. And I am not an expert. I am not "the best" at any one educational topic so it seemed that the idea having my own professional blog would be an impossibility.
Then it dawned on me. I may not be an expert on one facet of education but I have a little bit to say about a variety of educational topics. I realized that as a teacher I am a utility player and that can be a great thing. Teachers are, to some extent, forced to be a jack-of-all-trades. As a teacher I must demonstrate proficiency in being a communicator, researcher, technological leader, club sponsor, coach, lesson planner, collaborator, listener...the list could go on. Teachers are by nature utility players in school communities. So instead of doing a blog about one thing I've decided to make this blog about the all different facets of education that I get to participate in. At times this blog may seem disjointed or scattered and I am okay with that. Being a teacher is about juggling numerous ideas, activities, and interests, and I'm excited to share some of my musings and experiences in my various roles as a educator in the 21st Century.
