I’m writing this letter to you, my younger, new graduate self,
as you are about to begin your teaching career. As I write this letter you are
now beginning your 30th year of this great profession we call
teaching and in retrospect I thought I should tell you a few things that might
be helpful as you begin your professional journey.
Remember the advice aunt Eileen told you last week. Don’t
make the mistake of talking too much. Give others, especially your students, a
chance to speak and then listen carefully to what they are saying.
Do be aware of the profound impact the things you do has on
your students.
Sometimes you will find out how you are positively
influencing students lives, many times you will not.
Don’t be such a hard-ass.
That feeling you have from time to time that your students
are younger (more fragile, less mature, more vulnerable) than you think is
true. In the future when your own children are grade 12 graduates you’ll
confirm this belief. Be very careful how you interact with your students. Avoid
decisions that are systemically violent. Students, parents, and teachers need
your kindness, caring and compassion.
Do listen carefully to people that you disagree with or that
you do not understand.
This will broaden your world-view in ways you can’t imagine.
Don’t hesitate when asked, just say yes to doing things with
students that you have very little or no idea about.
Begin that yearbook creation project, scan those treaties, do
things associated with biotechnology. You will do some of your best teaching
when you are learning with your students as you struggle together to figure
things out.
Do behave in ways as if you are interacting with your own kids.
Try to see your children in the faces of the students you
teach. After you actually have children you will be doing this so start trying
to do it now.
Don’t refuse to do a project with your class or school
because you are not sure which curricular outcome(s) it covers.
In the future we will be discussing the decreased importance
of content (knowledge) outcomes and the increasing importance of the big ideas
of critical and creative thinking. Many of the projects that you are thinking
are not a curricular match do in fact get at these big ideas that are most
important for your students. No one will ever tell you that a project that
makes a difference in the world (in your school, community, or the global
community) is a bad idea.
After you have been a principal for some time and worked in
the district office, get back into the classroom and be a full time teacher for
a couple of years. This will remind you how difficult it is to be a teacher. You’ll
think you remember what its like to be a teacher, you don’t!
Here are some suggestions from a few people at a conference
I’m at today wanted to suggest to you:
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Rob Fisher
August 12, 2012
p.s. the lotto 649 numbers for July 28th, 2012
are 6, 10, 22, 30, 35, and 49
pps. Definition hard-ass noun Slang: Vulgar .
a person who follows rules and regulations meticulously and
enforces them without exceptions.
What suggestions would you tell your younger self?
Do the suggestions differ depending on the length of time you have been a teacher?
Maybe after the conference I'll unpack each of these points and share some of the discussions with everyone.
I found myself desperately searching for a 'like' button after reading this post! This is beautiful, and really portrays your love for our wonderful profession. The part that really captured my attention had to be your comparison of students to children. It's so true -- a real connection develops between teacher & student, and I'm glad you described it here.
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