For the October #BlogAMonth challenge I have only just found my soapbox moment as October is closing. And I had to improve my argument and not raise my voice.

Recently I found myself in a teacher meeting where I realized I was in a minority view and had to change my tactic to maneuver back to the goal of the meeting – to serve students/home. I had met three of the teachers before. One I was very comfortable with, two I knew casually, and one was new to me. The new-to-me teacher ended up not getting a word into the conversation. The teacher I knew played a peacemaker role, and the two I only knew vaguely developed before my eyes. At one point three of the teachers had their arms crossed. This was my red flag to change from suggestions to questions about their obstacles.

Once the teachers talked about obstacles to doing what was better for students/home in this situation I was able to become more helpful to them. The work I want to do is not as important as doing what each group of teachers needs done. I feel like I recovered the relationship/potential for better relationships in the future by asking and listening to how I could help instead of telling them how I was going to help.

This was a definite case of improve your argument instead of raise your voice!