Being a teacher
a few reflective thoughts on what that means to me today, now that i have returned to the classroom, at least through the end of the year
Being a teacher mean
- I can never stop learning. My learning begins with learning about my students: what they already know, what they know how to do, what they can learn to, what their hopes and dreams and fears and doubts are . . . .
- my time is not my own. The job is not defined by the time I spend in my classroom with my students, which begins at 8:05 and ends at 3 PM. It is not defined by my average day at school, which runs from 7 to 4. It is not even defined by the time I know I will spend planning and correcting papers. My mind continues to think about my students, about how to reach them, about what I could have done better, sometimes even when I am trying to fall asleep.
- I cannot merely close my door and teach. The school is required to document, which means I am as well. For the first time in my life I have to submit detailed lesson plans two weeks ahead, even though reality says planning in detail more than a day or two ignores what it is I am going to learn in previous lessons, in correcting the work that is completed. Given what many see as my ability to articulate to a general audience the reality of the classroom, I have a further obligation to engage in attempting to influence educational policy.
- I must work with others on behalf of my students. That includes the school as a whole. It certainly at a middle school level, where students travel from teacher to teacher as cohorts the other teachers on my team. Wherever possible it must include the adults who bear responsibility outside of school for the students entrusted to our care - these may be parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, foster parents.
But there is more.
Being a teacher mean
- I can never stop learning. My learning begins with learning about my students: what they already know, what they know how to do, what they can learn to, what their hopes and dreams and fears and doubts are . . . .
- my time is not my own. The job is not defined by the time I spend in my classroom with my students, which begins at 8:05 and ends at 3 PM. It is not defined by my average day at school, which runs from 7 to 4. It is not even defined by the time I know I will spend planning and correcting papers. My mind continues to think about my students, about how to reach them, about what I could have done better, sometimes even when I am trying to fall asleep.
- I cannot merely close my door and teach. The school is required to document, which means I am as well. For the first time in my life I have to submit detailed lesson plans two weeks ahead, even though reality says planning in detail more than a day or two ignores what it is I am going to learn in previous lessons, in correcting the work that is completed. Given what many see as my ability to articulate to a general audience the reality of the classroom, I have a further obligation to engage in attempting to influence educational policy.
- I must work with others on behalf of my students. That includes the school as a whole. It certainly at a middle school level, where students travel from teacher to teacher as cohorts the other teachers on my team. Wherever possible it must include the adults who bear responsibility outside of school for the students entrusted to our care - these may be parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, foster parents.
But there is more.