New year, new thinking?

I had a moment of clarity just now and started scribbling furiously into my journal. The following blog post is the result of that scribbling as I wanted to share it with everyone to see what your thoughts where about the way my mind is going...

Up until now all my learning and research has been concerned with how it could be used or applied in my current practice, for example,
i)   how to improve on how, and what, I currently teach,
ii)  how to help my students learn/ take responsibility for their own learning,
iii) how to improve my reflective practices both within class, and before/ after.

This realisation has lead me to wonder at the near-sighted view I have of my practice - do I only see the smaller picture of my day-to-day teaching? Am I only seeing the thin end of the wedge of where I am now, rather than looking outward more?
Basically, what I am trying to work out, I think, is:

Do I play safe within my comfort zone, or is it that I'm dedicated to being the best that I can be, within my current employment?

I know that I love my job, and my students well-being and development is my top priority, however isn't it part of my professional practice to expand outwards even if I remain within my current practice placements? If I have more, wider, skills and knowledge I surely have more to bring to whatever it is I happen to be doing!

Having just finished Twyla Tharp's book, The Creative Habit, I find myself thinking of this particular quote,

If you don't have a broad base of skills, you are limiting the number of problems you can solve when trouble hits. (p.222, 2003)
 

These words seem incredibly important to me, right now, and feel applicable not just, as Twyla says, when trouble hits, but in being able to discover more ways to connect, engage, and encourage students.

As I move into the next module, and start thinking about lines of inquiry, I wonder whether I need to step further away from my current practice, knowledge and skill set, into uncharted waters... although being sure to keep that mooring rope secured so as not to stray completely off topic, and bring me home safely.