Self-reliance is promoted as teachers communicate frequently with one another. When teachers specialize in topics of personal interest, they boost their own classroom performance, promote personal strength, and build a foundation for helping other teachers. Teacher book clubs focusing on professional reading also foster self-reliance. As teachers read selected writers discussing topics of interest, and as they process this information with colleagues, new insights into the realities of and the possibilities for the classroom emerge. Community among teachers is indeed an important aspect of teacher self-reliance, for it is as teachers give to and take from one another that they as individuals are strengthened.
Life teaches lessons helpful in resolving the problems of teaching.
Perhaps no lessons are more important than those developing the skills of endurance and those creating an attitude of adventure toward adversity and change. Also helpful are the lessons that build greater compassion and humanity. Carry-over learning can occur as teachers engage in direct and specific activities in their outside lives. The learning and doing of a major house renovation, for example, could lead a teacher to take a fresh look at the role of motivation and direct assistance in the process of learning. Likewise, learning about gardening through association with other gardeners could cause a teacher to understand anew the value of social support in learning.