Hooray! Now What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Today I received news that I and a colleague will be presenting at a session for the Kentucky Center Mathematics conference in March. I first passed the message along to her, and then reality set in: we had a presentation to finish. We plan on doing a presentation on motivating students in learning math. Not fifteen minutes after notifying her, realization hit me. We have something to say, and I assume we will have an audience to show. We will be sharing our insight and expertise with others interested in what we have to share. Expertise-when did I cross over into that territory? I guess it snuck up on me. It feels difficult to realize that sometimes. I really feel ambivalent about this too. I don’t know if I need to hold a piece of it to keep me humble, or if it holds me back from doing more.
 

Part of this is connected with motivation, our topic for presentation. If people feel something is impossible for them to accomplish, usually they won’t even waste their time trying. As I pull from the strongest parts of myself, I know that sharing along with my colleague our experience, our perceptions as tutors, and the work we do to encourage our students is an important task, but I know it is possible to do. It does make it easier to know that I have a good team mate. Knowing that I don’t have to put out all efforts alone and that I can work in good support structures makes daunting tasks much more manageable.

Being an introvert, I have to remind myself that I don’t always have to do things on my own. It is okay to pull in others to share the work on important tasks. I don’t have to be a solitary voice to speak a message. Sometimes it can start by telling one person, and then convince them to join in spreading that message.  If we share our vision with the right kind of people, it can go so much further.