Today I had a lunchtime conversation with another teacher in my cluster. We talked about strategies for my low enrollment problem. Again I found myself having the discussion about students learning to think vs. learning to use tools. More kids would come to my class if they were there to just learn to use tools...but that's the least interesting part of my curriculum to teach. I don't think I could keep my brain interested in teaching kids to only use tools. And when I'm not interested, I get sluggish and unmotivated.
The other half of my job (maybe the "bigger" half) is being a good person. Being a coach, a guide, helping kids navigate their often messy lives and helping them plan for the future. Developing kids' social skills, always a challenge in my class. In some cases, teaching lessons that other kids learn at home from parents. Taking kids seriously but not taking myself too seriously. This stuff, I know I'm pretty good at it, still improving, but already good at it.
I do enjoy the coaching part of teaching, but it wouldn't be enough to hold me there if I were teaching a curriculum that made my brain bored, so it's time for me to figure out what my market is and how to sell my curriculum.