I teach, it’s what I do. When I’m in my classroom, door shut, I am at home. Nothing energizes me more than watching a child grasp a new concept and get excited about learning. When I go to workshops, visit awesome schools, I tend to forget the success I have in my room…I focus on the bigger than life personalities I see and wonder how I can compete. I’m not comfortable rapping in my class, I have never been the “cool” one, BUT I believe in my students.
I’m discovering that I have a place, to come along side another and whisper words that cast a vision of what they can be. You know what I’ve found, they start to believe it. Then they begin to taste success, they work harder, and my class becomes a place where success is celebrated, failure is no longer feared.
Maybe this is what’s missing from education. What would happen if teachers spent more time investing in students over the latest, greatest, gimmicky, here for 2 years methods of teaching? What would happen if we saw our greatest accomplishment as the development of character in a child, not their latest test score. As a successful professional, I have heard that a teacher is only as good as their last test score. Are we naive enough to think that students don’t pick up on that as well? Are they worthy only if they perform? Are we willing to see that rescuing the sinking educational ship is going to require much more than a new technique?
It’s going to require an ability to teach, a love for people…not just students but their families, an ability to be a “life coach.” I have an idea, let’s teach coaching to teachers…whose with me?
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