How Do We Know When We've Been Successful?

One of the reasons that I don't think that sports necessarily prepares us very well for real life is  the dramatic difference in how success is measured and recognized.  When I prepared for a marathon, for example, I could measure exactly how successful I was simply by noting my time at the finish line.  As a parent or husband or writer, success has been much more difficult to measure, much more subjective.  That is also true of teaching and particularly of online teaching.  There is something artificial about communicating with people via emails and discussion boards but seldom meeting them.

So I was presently surprised this week when not one but two of my students appeared during office hours for a chat.  I was struck by their dedication to learning and to their families, and it was very, very encouraging to hear them talk about both how the course has prompted them to think and write more precisely and how they have applied elements of the course to their own lives in ways that I would not have predicted.  It was a wonderful gift they bestowed on me.

I had two take-aways from this experience.  First, I resolved to more often let people know when they have taught me something worthwhile, as these two generous students did.  Second, I was struck that in the midst of performing what can sometimes seem like an extended clerical exercise (constructing a syllabus, building a website, answering student emails, commenting on student post, sending feedback on student work) I was in fact facilitating, at least occasionally, something much more profound.  It is a bit unsettling to realize that we probably unaware of when were are doing the most good--or bad.

Every day we are presented with innumerable opportunities to contribute something meaningful to each others' lives; often our largest contributions will pass without us having any idea of their occurrence.