Ever notice how teachers at the end of their career tend to be the best or the very worst of their breed? It becomes a polarizing factor dually giving rise to the notion that teachers should retire sooner or that at the end of the rotation a teacher doesn’t give a damn about the politics and is, finally, about the learning.
I wish I’d had more of those teachers in my time. I can name three off the top of my head, led by Herbert Greenhut, the best teacher I’ve ever met. He had a plan from day one and by day twelve it was clear to all of us that things weren’t going to be normal and our comfort zone, though gone, was being remade into something stellar.
I don’t invoke such a rise in my students. I want to. I feel like I spent too many years on the job trying to be a good teacher or an influential teacher or even matching some film-born idea of what a teacher ought to be (oh captain my captain). None of that is me. If I’ve learned one thing over the past few years its that trying to be someone other than yourself is a painful experience destined to end in failure. The most you can be is the best version of yourself wherever you go. I’ve moved back towards that in my personal and professional lives and it feels so good.
Some Thoughts:
- Failed to upload this last night.