I thought about giving this a clever, catchy title… but I changed my mind and decided it was most important that I was CLEAR about what I wanted to say…  I really do think that if newer teachers learn this and understand this it will make their lives easier.

1. YOU ARE NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE.
2. YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON ON THE PLANET RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE YOUR STUDENTS TURN INTO PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY.
3. JUST BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY YOU DO IT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT.

If you can make yourself read and believe those things, you can make your whole teaching career–in fact, your LIFE, easier.

YOU ARE NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE

I was sitting in a leadership meeting a few years ago, and we were being told how students were going to be pulled out of their classes because they needed to rehearse/prepare for end of the year try-outs, one act play, and any other number of things.  It was the WEEK before STAAR testing.  Core teachers were wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth about how their students couldn’t possibly miss part of THEIR class just a week before the STAAR test.  One of my colleagues emphatically said, “If we are claiming that academics are the most important thing in this school, how can we take students out of class a week before the test?”

Our associate principal at the time calmly replied, “I don’t remember ever saying that academics are THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.  I don’t remember Dr. Denny ever saying that either.”

For my colleague, it was enough to drive him from the profession…  for me, it was a realization.  My principal was right…  Yes, academics are important… but the MOST important?  I’m not so sure.

Aren’t auto shop and welding equally important?  What about for the students who are going to be musicians or actors…  Yes, people actually DO make a living doing those things…  are academics the MOST important?

Dr. Denny has said many times that he wants his teachers to be passionate in THEIR areas…  We are ALL supposed to think that our jobs are the most important job in the building, and I DO think English is the most important subject… but it may not be most important for ALL of my students…

So… when your perfect schedule is interrupted because students have to go to a pep rally or an assembly or they’re being pulled out of class to watch an underwater basket weaving demonstration, lighten up!!!   Don’t get all upset about it… it’s just a DIFFERENT part of education.  You will still be able to teach them..,. but you may have to cut something out, and that’s okay.  I PROMISE those few hours out of your class are not going to make or break a student.

YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON ON THE PLANET RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE YOUR STUDENTS TURN INTO PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY. 

You really aren’t the ONLY person who is talking to students about “real life”  (and actually, fair teacher, do you know what REAL LIFE is… or is it your perception?  Do you REALLY know what your students’ work life will be like?  I know I don’t.)

If you are not connecting with certain students, it’s okay… they are connecting with someone, somewhere.  You don’t have to get through to all of them.

You don’t have to spend twenty hours creating the “perfect ” lesson only to be devastated when the students aren’t as in to it as you hoped they’d be.

You don’t have to spend your entire weekend meticulously grading every little detail of their paper, making thoughtful comments, only to collapse in exhausted tears as you find their paper crumpled under their desk after they leave the room.

They go to see seven other teachers; they have friends, family members, bosses…  they have MANY other people in their lives who are making sure that they are learning what they need to do after this whole school business is behind them.  It’s okay that they’re not taking your class as seriously as you would like them to.  They are not bad people.  You are not a bad teacher.

JUST BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY YOU DO IT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT.

This one was DEFINITELY the most difficult for me.  I’m a rule follower… I’m a stickler for the way that I feel things SHOULD be…

…but it’s not the only way…

…and maybe it’s not the RIGHT way…

and it’s okay if people do things differently.  It’s okay if other TEACHERS do things differently.  I am not the policewoman for the world; it is definitely not my job to make sure that others are doing things MY way.

I work with several people who say..  “Well, I can’t do anything about the fact that he’s failing.  He has mastered less than 70 percent.  His grades are below 70, so he’s failing.”

Really?  According to whom?  Who wrote the test?  Who decided how much each question was going to be worth?  Who decided how many grades you were going to give?  Like it or not, Teacher, you ARE the one who decided your student is failing.  And you have to decide how important that particular lesson is…

…because what I’ve learned is that teachers, in general , are rule followers.  We have good credit.  We pay our bills on time.  We are planners.  We keep our lives organized.  We are goal oriented…

but that’s OUR way… is that they way of our students?  Does it HAVE to be?

I know LOTS of people outside the world of education who think  you don’t pay a bill until it comes pink in the mail or until the company shuts of their utility…  who live on pay day loans and pawning.  It makes me CRINGE to think about living a life where I’m transferring balances from one credit card to another.  It seems silly and unnecessarily stressful… and I want to save my students from that kind of existence because that’s MY way…

… but does it HAVE to be theirs?  …just because it’s my way does NOT mean that students need to adopt it…

…and the same goes for the other teachers.  Does the teacher down the hall ignore dress code, let their kids eat in class, and let their kids come in tardy?  Does it make you nuts?  Ummmm… why?  “Well, because then the students want to do the same thing in my class.  I don’t want to be the bad guy!”

So don’t be the bad guy… or do…  that’s on you… that’s not on that other teacher.  Your way to do it is not the only way.  You set the rules for YOUR classroom… ’cause, know what?  They’ll end up with all DIFFERENT kinds of bosses in all different kinds of jobs.  Some will be sticklers for the rules… some won’t… but your way is not the ONLY way that these kids will see in “real” life…

I still love teaching.  It’s been 21 years; and, other than marrying Richard, it is the BEST decision I have ever made.  I KNOW that I’ll love it for another 20 years… mostly due to the kids, of course, but also due to the three revelations above.  So, new teachers (and veteran frustrated teachers), take heed.  I truly think that your career will be much easier if you do.

…then again, you don’t have to do it my way.