Lockeland is the most amazing place in the world. I am
immediately so in love with my first placement.
My mentor teacher could not be
more engaging, brilliant, and encouraging. I just found out she was most
recently named teacher of the year – and it shows. She has already made me feel
so welcomed. Every question I have thrown her way – even about the most
peculiar, small things and at random times – she has answered with sage poise.
Though this environment is clearly privileged, she is constantly checking in on
the big and small needs of her students. AND YET, every thing she does seems to
be so fluid and obvious. She does not take hours and hours before and after
school to plan and prepare for the next day, she doesn’t have a ton of extra
work that she takes home every night, she is raising two small children (a 1
year old and a child in pre-K), and she does not flinch in the face of new
ideas and innovation. I wonder, how long does it take to get to this point?
She’s been teaching for twelve years, and things seemed to have just unfolded
perfectly for her. I wonder if I will ever reach this point!
It seems like this is the best kind of teacher: one that has the wisdom from years of experience that creates fluidity in her teaching and problem solving, but also has the flexibility and open-mindedness of someone who is fresh on the scene. I wonder if this is achievable sooner than twelve years in? And how do you achieve this balance? Is it simply due to the nature of the amount of time she has put in to teaching as a profession? Or is it a mental choice? Or probably, some combination of those?
Ilana and I were lucky enough to observe a relatively new teacher during our planning period at Tusculum. It was so interesting to me because when I saw her teaching, I immediately thought: Pinterest teacher. Not in the superficial-but-cutsey way, but in the everything-is-thoroughly-organized-and-well-put-together way. She always had her materials inches from her fingers with extension questions; she had perfectly-drawn anchor charts adorning the walls with catchy titles and a calm demeanor throughout. She incorporated accountable talk and sign language in her classroom procedure, leaving a seamless and well-functioning classroom. I even overheard one of her students tell his peer: "we are not talking about that right now", encouraging him to get back to the think-pair-share they were having about the math problem. I had never seen such a smooth classroom!
ReplyDeleteThat being said, there is another relatively new teacher in the school who has many low-performing and troublesome students in her class. She is always energetic and full of new ideas but has none of the Pinterest cuteness and calm demeanor. She is rightly frazzled because of her students but is still one of the best teachers I have seen. She always tries new things and genuinely cares about her students' well-being.
All that to say that I believe there are a variety of factors that go into being a strong teacher: your years of experience, your students, your life circumstances outside of school, your personality, your innate talent. There are things we can do to improve our teaching and watching teachers like yours is a great start. That being said, sometimes situations and personalities line up perfectly and other times they do not. Either way, all you can do is try your best and that's what matters. :)