In the blood?

Is teaching in the blood? I don’t think so. I believe teachers are made, not born, and the bloodline is inconsequential. Neither my parents nor my grandparents were teachers. However, I recently learned that my great-great-grandfather taught elementary school for over 50 years. Significant? Probably not. But there are those teachers out there that just seem to be born to teach. They’re naturals. Great instruction and creative engaging assignments just seem to flow through them with ease. Their students always behave well and never fail their courses. These teachers are gifted individuals answering a “higher calling” when they walk into their classrooms and turn on the lights. Actually these people were not born this way. Instead these “master teachers” have worked very hard to achieve this level of proficiency in their craft. So there is hope for the rest of us: the imperfect teachers who, much like in our childhood scholastic careers, have to work, scrape, and sweat for every small success in the classroom. Thankfully, there are a few characteristics of master teachers that can be learned, applied, and refined by all teachers.

The attitude we bring to our classrooms is a huge part of our success. Nothing turns a kid (or anyone else) off faster than being forced to work with an individual who has a sour attitude. Our attitudes are one of the few things that we can control, especially when our classrooms are tumbling out of control. I don’t always look on the bright side of life. I try, but most of the time I fail. My faith plays a huge role in my life and I’m thankful that I have it to rely on. One of my closest colleagues is atheist; I honestly don’t know how he makes it through his day, or what keeps him going when the going gets tough. Our students store was recently broken into by two brothers, the older being responsible for watching the younger. After they broke the window, the younger boy (6) was “placed” through the broken window by his older brother (10) so that the two could then get access to the candy inside. Who was watching out for these kids? No one at the time of the robbery (other than the surveillance cameras). Teachers watch out for kids, but we can only do so much. It takes a village to raise a child and the teacher is second in command after the parents.

You don’t have to be a parent to be an effective teacher, but being a parent has certainly made me a more patient teacher. I have a son who is bipolar. Nothing, and I mean nothing, that I have ever been confronted with at school with my students has ever even approached the challenges I face daily with my son. I use the patience that I have learned parenting my own children with the pupils I teach in my classroom. Almost nothing fazes me anymore. Almost nothing. However, I find it increasingly difficult to tolerate students who don’t seem to listen, ignore the directions, and then ask me questions about the classroom assignments that I have just explained. Patience is a key factor to success in the classroom and a major byproduct of parenting.

It’s hard work to make time to create and prepare appropriate lessons that engage students. I teach a six-period day. In other words, I don’t have a conference or prep period. I have to spend time before and after school preparing lessons and grading work. I spend a significant period of time each summer revising my lab manual. For my subject matter, multimedia, I have found that collecting and writing original assignments and assessments is more effective then trying to stick to someone else’s out-dated textbook. It’s more work then most people are willing to do. Call me crazy, but it works best for me. But not all teachers want to work hard. I would suggest that anyone looking to become a teacher because of the shorter work schedule and summers off find another profession. Many schools in California have already gone year-round anyway. Even my campus is going “modified traditional,” (whatever that means), in 2007-2008.

So if teachers are made, what are they made of? Our biology includes attitude, patience, a willingness to work hard, and a philanthropic spirit. Philanthropy is part of teaching? It has to be. No one teaches to improve him or herself, although that is another nice byproduct. I believe that we are all born basically selfish if for no other reason then to guarantee our own survival. Most teachers have grown beyond the self-centered view and come to not only understand that this is not a successful way to maintain or grow our world, but also that if we are all going to survive at all, we all need to be educated. Not just the elites, or the rich, but everyone needs an education to succeed. Almost like those individuals who take a vow of poverty, teachers give up a huge part of their own personal self-interest in order to serve our world. No one is born ready and willing to do that. It’s a decision each teacher comes to individually, privately, and sometimes almost as an epiphany of sorts.

It’s important for us to understand that we are part of something much, much bigger than ourselves. The education of our world’s children is a huge responsibility and a major contribution to our culture and society. The public education of our children is a greater good in which teachers are the leading players. Administrators support teachers and parents entrust their children to teachers but it is the regular, everyday classroom teacher who makes the educational difference in the child’s life. What we do matters. So how we do it is critically important. Are the teachers going to save the world? To the extent that the world can be saved, I believe they play a starring role. Not because they were made that way, but because they have made that choice.

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Does blogging matter?

Maybe. Does connecting with other teachers matter? Absolutely, and that’s one reason why blogging is important. There are many teacher blogs in the blogosphere right now: Ms. Frizzle, Cool Cat Teacher blog, The Education Wonks, Hip Teacher, Right on the Left Coast, Computer Science Teacher, and Tom’s 2 cents to name a few. Check out my blogroll for many others. And there is room for many, many more. Blogging not only connects us, it gives us an opportunity to vent a little, or a lot. If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know that sometimes I just rant, and it feels great. Teachers are human beings but we are expected to be superhuman and that’s just crazy. I believe that what we do makes us super-heroes, but not superhuman. So taking some time weekly, or even daily to let it all out is good for the soul and will make you a better teacher.

I’ve been writing regularly now for a few months. I am nutty about checking my traffic and comments. Sometimes I get discouraged that more people don’t read my entries (maybe that’s a good thing) but then I usually receive a very complimentary comment, or find out that some good has come from the time I have spent sharing, or someone has received encouragement to continue on. I don’t know if you can tell this, but most of my motivation for writing is to keep me teaching in the classroom. Like you, I think of quitting all the time. Not that I don’t love teaching, or working with kids, but the temptation is always there to hang it up and pursue a profession that pays a little more, offers a little more prestige, or isn’t quite so draining of my energy. By writing I reassure myself that what I am doing is worthwhile, and that my time spent not only make a difference, but also actually changes and improves other people’s lives.

We teachers are like that. I believe that most of us are driven by a desire to improve the world we live in one student at a time. Sure, some of us teach for the great vacation time, or so-called early dismissals, but I don’t think that anyone can survive in teaching without believing that somehow all the personal sacrifice is not vanity. Maybe it is sometimes, but somebody has to take on the responsibility of educating the young, why not me? I’ve thought about a career in heavy machine operation. Seriously. I own an old Ford tractor and I absolutely love tooling around the property on it. I was surprised to find out that holding a master’s degree and operating heavy machinery is not that uncommon. Apparently other former teachers have found relief behind the wheel of a skip-loader or behind the controls of a bulldozer. Who knew? But at the end of a hard day of ditch digging or road leveling I don’t think I’d drive home with the same sense of satisfaction and the comfort of knowing that I did more in that day then simply perform an assigned task.

Back to blogging. You should start your own blog. Hugh Hewitt wrote a great book called Blog last year that is worth a read. When I first got the crazy notion to start writing a blog I sent him an email with the first few entries asking if he thought my idea to write would find an audience. He did, and it has. According to my stat counter, teachers from all over the world are reading and sharing these articles, or short essays, or blog entries, (I don’t know what to call them really). They’re long, I know, but at about 1000 words each they’re at a length that is comfortable for me to communicate what I’m thinking about. You’re blog entries need not be so verbose. Starting a blog is super easy. I use blogger.com, but there are many others, and most services and sites are free. I’m always suspecting of those who want to charge, but if you feel more comfortable with a fee site, go for it. If you do start blogging shoot me an email and I’ll list you on my blog roll.

You should blog and share your teaching experience with other teachers including what you know works for you in and your kids in your classroom. You might think that “everybody does that,” or, “it’s so obvious,” but that’s only true for you. Most of us can’t go into our colleagues’ classrooms and observing them teaching. We don’t have time to take notes, share successes, collaborate, or just plain chat during our regular workday. I teach six periods (by choice) so I don’t even get a conference period to work with my cohorts. Some schools are doing a great job with banking time and block schedules giving teachers more time to join forces. But mostly we are still a consortium of individuals who spend our days grinding away in our own little worlds with limited adult contact. Teachers need to get out more, or at least out on the Internet more. That’s where blogging becomes a very effective tool for replacing the collaborative time we lose while we’re actually working.

Blogging won’t solve the world’s educational problems, but it will make those of us who take the time to take advantage of the technology better teachers, and that’s better for the world or education. If you don’t feel like you’re ready to start your own blog, then at least become an active commenter on the blogs you read now. Some of my best ideas for writing have come from either the comments left on this blog, or emails that I have received from regular readers. Although it sometimes feels like we are alone in our endeavor to teach the young, like we will never have a decent adult conversation at work again, and that our non-teacher spouses will never understand why we are so exhausted every night, take heart. We have blogs and blogging to join us as a global community of educators to share resources, to voice our concerns, or to just share amusing experiences. Like that time I…

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