Teacher Business

I debated on whether I was going to post this or not...but when I started this blog, I wanted it to be something that I can look back on and see the journey that I have gone on and the things that I have learned. And hopefully...maybe...an encouragement to someone else.

I have found that sometimes in the teaching profession, a certain kind of thinking takes over at times.

It has the power of turning "teaching" into simply telling. Telling something that you want your students to know in order to pass a test. It goes from one item to the next...you start "teaching" to the test....because we all know that those test scores are what tells us what kind of teacher we are (so we think).

So as a teacher, we work hard. We work hard at our lesson plans. We work hard making sure we have everything we need to equip our students to succeed. We work hard at making sure we have every assessment fulfilled. We work hard at putting numbers on spreadsheets so that eventually they make some sort of sense. We work hard making sure our students are learning what they need to be learning. We push our students. And sometimes almost to the point of breakdown. We spend countless hours before school, after school and on the weekends preparing for the our students. We know it isn't a 9-5 job. It isn't something you just show up for, work, and go home. There is paperwork to be done, papers to be graded, construction paper to be cut out (ok...so maybe this is just for kindergarten:)), papers to be copied, cut, and stapled. There are SLO papers to be filled out...determining our fate (ok so that is a little dramatic).

That's when the focus changes. Sometimes we forget. We forget that yes, those scores are important...those assessments are needed in some crazy way or another. We forget that those 22 students that walk into our classroom each morning are only ours for a little while. We only have a certain amount of days to make a difference with those precious people we call our students. We forget that teaching doesn't have to be just teaching to the tests.

And that is what happened to me. I lost focus. I was so focused on getting all the assessments done that I wasn't listening. I wasn't listening to what my students needed from me. It's easy to do. I stuck to my lesson plans...had to get through my lesson plans and get those items "crossed off" my list.

But the other day, something changed. Although I still had my lesson plans out, I wasn't glued to them. I decided I didn't want to be that teacher anymore. So I stopped, and I listened. I listened to Jane tell me all about how she was in pain because of a hangnail and when I clipped it she hugged me and said "thank you." I listened to Danny (these aren't my students' real names) when he just simply couldn't form his '8'. Instead of saying "well, just try it," I got down and guided his hand so he could see how to form that 8. "Make an S and close the gate." He smiled and said, "I'm so glad you teach-ed me how to make an 8." Ok, so we are still working on grammar, but still:) I listened to a group of my ESL students when they just couldn't put those 2 sounds together...they simply didn't know what letters they were. Instead of getting frustrated, we changed the plans and just worked on certain letters.

You see, I don't want to be the teacher that teaches to the test. I want to be an encourager. I want to be a light in someone else's darkeness. I want to be a safe place for my students to come to. I want to really know each of my students. Not just what they can produce on paper or what they can score on a test. I want to know what makes them irritated...what makes them smile...what makes them close down and what makes them come to life. I want to know which tears mean they are hurt, which mean they don't feel good, which mean they are being pushed too far. I want to teach my students that it's ok to fail at times and make mistakes...because we all do. But then we learn from those mistakes. I want to challenge my students. I want to give them courage to try new things and see what they can do and accomplish.

These children are watching me...they are watching how I respond to everything. single. thing. I want to respond with love and kindness...with understanding.

I have 7 hours with these children everyday. I want to challenge my students to be their best. I want to give them courage to try new things and see what they can do.

Yes, I will mess up...I mess up all the time (thankfully kindergarteners are VERY forgiving!). It is hard, it is challenging...but I can tell you one thing. NOTHING gives you more joy than looking into a child's eyes and seeing that lightbulb go off and then the smile that is plastered all over that precious face because they finally got it.

TEACHER

I've come to a frightening

conclusion that I am the

decisive element in the

classroom. It's my personal

approach that creates the climate.

It's my daily mood that makes the 

weather. As a teacher, 

I possess a tremendous power to 

make a child's life

miserable or joyous. I can be a tool

of torture or an instrument of 

inspiration. I can humiliate or heal.

In all situations, it is my

response that decides 

whether a crisis will be escalated 

or de-escalated and a child

humanized or dehumanized.

-Haim G. Ginott

PS- If there are lots of mistakes, I blame it on trying to cook dinner and chasing kids while writing this in spurts...:)