Disposition 3

Authenticity:

What we're all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection.

-Oprah Winfrey

I would like to thing that my limits in expressing myself authentically lie in the extremities. That I would always be my truest self unless it was a very unsafe circumstance or if it would benefit someone and I decided it would be worth it. I feel that in order to communicate effectively, I must be honest with myself and my students. However, I also assume that there will be times and places in my teaching career in which it will be a good choice to be more reserved and less involved.

If you are a person who wants to be in a classroom and has the skills to be there as an educator, the only other necessary skill you require is the ability to be yourself. I have had incredibly inspiring instructors who moved and changed me in ways I never anticipated simply because they shared themselves and their passions with me.

I once thought that in order to be an effective instructor that you had to have a classroom personality or persona that was separate from your normal life self. I brought this up to my mom, an elementary music educator, and she said, "You know, I don't think that I have a "classroom personality" and I don't think ANY of my colleagues do. I don't know how I would survive, not being myself all day". In order for me to enjoy what I am doing, I need to be myself and be present. If I don't enjoy my experience, I can't expect my students to enjoy it or get anything out of it.