Mental Construct
I said good-bye to someone I recently met. I said good-bye because this person no longer exists. She was completely in my mind. The image, and all that went along with it, were based on misconceptions. Here's the context. A few weeks ago I began to mentor a couple of first year teachers. Since one of the two was someone I never really met, and didn't know well, I assumed I knew she was. That assumption came from a memory I had when we were actually in the same room together at the beginning of the previous school year. It was an orientation meeting where all the new student teachers meet their supervisors for the upcoming year. Somehow, I held on to this image as if it existed. So here we are, a year later and this person is now a first year teacher assigned to me. We spoke on the phone a few times, and I've gotten to know this young teacher in these early attempts to build trust and learn a little about each other. That kind of trust and knowledge is essential if