I’ve been sitting on a manuscript for quite some time.
It was completed, read through, polished and even had a cover drawn up. But… for some reason… I was too hesitant to release this one.
Call it imposter syndrome or just feeling like a broken record with nothing insightful to say, I kept it in my digital drawer.
I kept asking myself, does the world really need another book about teaching?
Underneath that question was another question that requires an honest reflection:
Am I really the person to talk about good teaching?
I have so far to go and when I think about my beginnings, I still shudder.
I was bad.
But… I was willing to learn. Or rather, I needed to learn and needed to do it in a hurry.
Confession: one of the biggest reasons I’m doing the podcast is to learn from the best. While I care if it serves the listener, I’m selfishly asking questions for me so I can improve.
And yet, despite the many things I had to learn and the long road ahead, I still had students telling me how much they enjoyed my classes.
In the last few years, I’ve been touched by the number of students (and parents) who email me at the end of the year. I’ve kept every one of their positive notes of encouragement in a special notebook to help build my confidence on the days when I’m really feeling low.
Then, last month, I received a pile of notes from my first cohort of students at the end of our first virtual course. This one really struck me:
“Hi sir,
I just wanted to say thank you for this course! It’s the best religion course I’ve taken, even though it was all online.
I also wanted to say thank you so much for looking at my work and seeing potential in it. It is a super huge deal to me.
My last thing is, you’re literally the best and most realest teacher I’ve ever had. Surprisingly, this is the best course and most enjoyable course I’ve ever taken in the last four years and it’s made me the most honest I’ve been about myself and my life in a very long time.
Once again, thank you so much!”
I don’t put it up here to brag, because goodness knows I can be taken down many pegs, but it made me realize that maybe… just maybe… I was on to something in my approach.
That’s when I made the decision to pull the trigger.
I’ve released a new book (and possibly my final non-fiction one for a long time) called “Teaching Outside the Curriculum.”
The digital version has launched, with the hardcopy forthcoming.
However, as a thank you to you, my reader, and to the many mentors I’ve had over the years, I’m posting the PDF for free on my site for a while.
Maybe I’ll keep it on here permanently—I don’t know yet.
What I do know is that I’m ever thankful to the many people who encourage me, support me, mentor me and keep me going.