Learn More than You Teach Becoming a Leader in a Diverse World

Travel with veteran teacher Susan Smith as she acquires and develops leadership skills while working in a wide range of situations and cultures. Starting as an introverted child in a White suburban Pittsburgh neighborhood, she grew to love languages and exploring diverse lifestyles through them. For her, becoming a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Empire transformed her life and outlook as she thrived far from home. Throughout this book she has woven together seeking, learning, and growth as she recalls experiences including the time she struggled through the worst year of her life teaching first grade for the first time, lived without running water and electricity for a year, got terrified on a zipline in Nicaragua, and laughed when swallowed up by her newly made mattress. Throughout she has sought to learn more than she teaches.

Learn More than You Teach: Becoming a Leader in a Diverse World explores ways of collaborating that promote dignity and respect for all. Examining humorous and unexpected life adventures, Susan interacts with others allowing them ownership of their own lives and development. Readers can recognize themselves in the text and/or learn a new approach to working with others. The stories are designed to spark conversation and reflection on the reader's own approaches to Listening and learning before teaching.

Susan M. Smith, Ph.D. is an educator who found fascinating challenges at the intersection of education, culture, and languages. She has traveled to twenty-two countries, including two years spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic and an additional four years as education advisor for the Lutheran church in the same country. She speaks French and Spanish fluently along with bits of Sango and Portuguese. She taught elementary school for 30 years and coached other teachers. She is now a part-time interpreter, as well as an active volunteer with Pittsburgh Lutheran United Ministries, East Liberty Lutheran Church, and various organizations working for peace and justice.