What do you do for a living?

I had the privilege to spend a weekend with other Corwin authors and consultants last weekend in California.  While most of us spend many days on the road teaching, training, consulting and presenting, this weekend was meant to "feed us".  We had opportunities to hear some incredibly engaging voices from within Corwin, including Jim Knight, Peter DeWitt, Yong Zhao, and so many others.  Some of us even got a chance to present to Corwin authors and consultants for the first time about our books.  I presented to my colleagues about my newest book.  What a treat! 

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was listening to Mike Soules, the President of Corwin Press talk about the 25 year anniversary of Corwin.  In a humorous and poignant fashion, he told the story of Corwin and how we were all a part of it.

Another favorite portion of the weekend was attending the morning session in which David McCune, the director of Sage Publications (the "mother" of Corwin) told us all about the evolution of Sage and how Corwin came to be.  If I had any notion that he would be doing some publisher sales pitch, I was proven wrong from the moment he stepped on stage and asked each one of us to write down on a piece of paper the answer to this question:  


What do you do? 


I invite you to take a minute to do the same.  Write down your answer before continuing to read.  


Ready?


I immediately thought about what I am:  I am an author and consultant.  I am a trainer and presenter.  But at the end of the day, when I think about what I do, I thought about how whatever role I am in, I am impacted by other people everyday.  I would be nothing without my colleagues with whom I co-present.  I would be useless without those who respond to my tweets and blogs.  My work as an author would be futile were it not for readers of those books.  I'd certainly look pretty silly presenting a workshop without the wisdom of participants.  So, after a bit of thought, I landed on:  I learn alongside other educators.  


Just for today, perhaps we can think about what we do and how we are impacted by others in our lives.


Happy communicating!


Shelly

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