Scott Clarke

What does it mean to be a listener, learner, reader, and writer?

As a teacher for 15 years, I did a lot of listening. I listened to students, colleagues, and parents. I learned to listen closely, to give each person my full attention, and to paraphrase back what I thought they had just said, asking the person to correct me. If you listen well, you can help someone sort out what they think.

If you listen, you will learn. In the past year, I've learned how to build basic web applications using technologies like MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js, and JavaScript. I've learned how to write documentation and deploy these creations to GitHub and Heroku.

I enjoy reading. I did my undergraduate degree in English and history, which meant I was reading for hours and hours each day. As a teacher, I read to prepare better lessons, and as a programmer I read to improve my code.

Writing is thinking. It's last on this list because when I write I gather in what I've heard, learned, and read, and try to create something with it. Writing is simple but not easy.