As a former HS ELA teacher, one of the things I was most proud of was the community I built in my classroom and it is one of the things I miss most. Each class would bond over the stories we read and the stories we shared. Each time opening up a little piece of ourselves to the 30 other humans in the room. That is a very vulnerable thing to do. Especially for teenagers.
Here is what took me the longest to realize. In the classroom, I was the storyteller. I picked the books, I set the tone, I told the first story so the class could feel safe to tell theirs. In community work, I am not the storyteller anymore. I am the editor. My job is to create the conditions where other people want to tell their stories, and then get out of the when they do. The webinars, social posts, Champion conversations, conference presentations, and so much more is designed for the community to tell their story. The minute I am the center of the community all the time, I'm doing it wrong. It's not about me.
This is where trust comes in. Students trusted each other because they knew each other's stories. The books were just the excuse to gather around something together.
It is the same with a product. Nobody trusts a platform because marketing told them to. They trust it because someone they recognize, someone who teaches kids like theirs, told a story about what happened when they used it. The product is the excuse to gather. The stories are the community.
I miss the classroom more than I can say. The laughter, the arguments about endings, the quiet kid who finally spoke up. But now, the work is the same work. People still need a reason to open up to strangers.
And the reason is still the same: A story worth telling, and someone willing to tell the first one.
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