What is maturity, anyway?

Maturity.

It means different things depending on what phase of life we are in, I've noticed. I have recently had some interesting "mature" conversations. Some have been with colleagues, as I prepare my classroom for the impending move-out day, I get visits from co-workers and others who ask questions like: "are you counting down the days yet?" I guess they wonder how preoccupied with endings I am. Well-meaning, but that is not how I view this phase of my life. I look at it as a beginning, really!

I see the end of my years in Lewisville ISD as the beginning of someone else's chance to shine. I hope that the new teacher understands how badly I hope they are successful and happy in this studio.

When you are a high school student, I think it is typical to be routinely thought of as immature just because of a lack of experience in life, but I met with a group of 10 students who will be returning for their senior year with the new teacher here at Career Center East. 

I think that they reacted in a very mature way when I had a leadership conversation with them recently. 

We talked about how horrible it would be to approach the new teacher with constant reminders about how we did things "when our old teacher was here." (The old teacher being me!) I want them to lead by supporting the new teacher the best that they can, even if their way is completely different than the way they were used to things being done. I like the idea of a supportive set of advanced and practicum level students trying things that are different and learning from that way of doing things. 

Maturity. 

The new teacher will be blessed with a great set of students in leadership positions. In fact, I think they have will have more leaders than I had when I came to LISD to teach in total! 

Real talk: Everything comes at teenagers sooner and with more force than it did when I was growing up - and that could really be viewed as a detriment. It often is a detriment. However, the paradox is that they are really more responsible and ready to be trusted at an earlier phase of life. As always, there are plenty of adult people who would be willing to debate me in that assessment, and maybe I just have an unusual group to work with... but I believe this: maturity is not necessarily measured by the age of the person in question, but it is more about an attitude that is influenced by experience centered around learning from good leadership.

So here comes a good set of leaders, ready to be true influencers of the success of the department in the future because of the experiences that they have had.

“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth but delicious in the years of maturity.” — Albert Einstein