After 22 Years of Teaching

Here are some things I've learned after 22 years of teaching:

It's a vocation, a calling, not a job. It takes a tremendous amount of hard work, commitment and a sense of humour to do it well.

If you want to find excuses as to why you can't do better there are a lot to choose from. It's not in the budget, my admin doesn't support me, they're always changing things and on and on. If you want to find reasons to do better there are lots of those to choose from too. Right now I have 78 -- Tracey, Joel, Brooke, Rachel, Brandon, Julie, Jeff, Luke, Jordan, Cassie, Kasey, Kyle, and Joshua but to mention a few... I think you get the picture.

No student wants to do badly, neither does any teacher or principal. If any of the above do do badly there's usually a reason. Unpack that reason and you can fix the problem; focus on the reason and you compound the problem. Or, like the Japanese proverb reads: It's better to fix a problem than to fix blame.

People don't change because they're lazy (primarily); they don't change because they're afraid of the unknown. If you show them (don't just tell them) a better way, eventually they'll follow.

Stories are powerful. Teachers' stories, students' stories have more impact than lessons on iambic pentameter and quadratic equations.

When people say, "ya, but in the real world..." Is it really the real world? And if it is, is it the world we want our kids, our students, to live in or shouldn't we be teaching/showing this generation how they can change our world?

If you're serious about your teaching (about impacting kids' lives) you're in for seriously intense character modification (yours); it's cheaper and more effective than psychoanalysis.

Humble people make better teachers than arrogant ones. If you can't say you were wrong (ie. if you can't learn from your mistakes) it's going to be difficult for your students to take you seriously as a mentor-learner.

Unless someone's a teacher or lives with one or loves one, she will probably not understand much of the above. He's the one who says, "Must be nice to work from 9 - 3 and have summers off."

I learned in my first 18 years of teaching that sarcasm was a lethal means by which I was able to control most untoward behaviours. I also learned that some kids don't understand sarcasm and that many were hurt by it. I try not to use sarcasm anymore.

Finally, I've learned that students are other people's kids. I've learned that I do best by them when I put myself in their parents' shoes.

blog to be continued...