I swear to you when my fourteen-year-old son hears me mentioning blogging, he covers his head with a pillow, his hands, anything he can get. Not that he’s adverse to the idea, he’s just sick of hearing about it.
This makes me think about fourteen year old children in general and the fact that I have 130 of them entering my building in another month. I wonder how often my son, and others just like him, will want to cover his head rather than hear something again and again in class. I wonder how much richer his learning experience would be if he had only those teachers who are passionate about learning and about students. And more important, teachers who fuel his passions and interests—those are the teachers our kids need.
I have mentioned before and continue to maintain that it is the teacher’s responsibility to make the class engaging in a meaningful way and more important, to make it relevant. I wonder why this is so difficult for some teachers to do. How is it that someone can stand in front of a room of disconnected learners, who are clearly and visibly disconnected, and keep doing the same things? If a teacher is dedicated enough to go to college and to achieve a Master’s degree in their chosen content, then they must be dedicated to teaching. Right? Or are some just dedicated to the content, to the idea of being a teacher, to the summers off and the ability to return home by 2:30 in the afternoon?
We need teachers who are dedicated to the students, each and every one of them. Teachers who realize they aren’t teaching Math, Science, English, Social Studies, or the encore subjects. They’re teaching children. All 130 students entering our ninth grade are different, with interests, passions, hopes and dreams. They also come to us from very different parents, backgrounds, and histories. I want teachers who care about every student who walks through the door, who understand it’s their responsibility to connect with each student, to give them their absolute best each and every day. You know what? Our kids zero in on those teachers who don’t care or don’t know what they’re doing faster than we do. And our kids don’t want to do anything for those teachers. So listen at your faculty meetings this year because those teachers complaining the most about students not doing anything often lack the ability to connect with all students and they therefore lack the ability to motivate. Kids won’t do anything for a teacher they hate and they generally hate a teacher more than anyone else who disrespects them or belittles them. Pay attention to the teachers who keep quiet during those discussions, because they’ve most likely figured out ways to engage and connect with students. In seventeen years in education, one thing I know for sure is that children will do anything in the classroom for a teacher who they know cares about them and expects the best of them.
I don’t want to hear about how hard the job is or how difficult it is to get everything done. Every job is hard in different ways. If this one is too hard, go find something else to do. Our kids deserve the very best, the most passionate teachers, and adults who care. I believe with all my heart that there is no job more important or more rewarding. How hard is it to love our kids and give them 100% each and every day? I plan to do just that on September 1 and throughout the school year and I can’t wait to see my teachers return, ready to do the same.
I really appreciated this post.
Thanks.
While working with a young teacher this past year, the teacher said in a bewildered tone, “The ones that get along with me are passing and doing well. The ones that don’t like me are failing.” Even as the words and solution came out of their mouths they could not see the connection between student success, and the students’ relationship with the teacher.
Please, if you ever want to move to California, make sure you end up in my district. This issue of teachers who refuse to acknowledge that they are teaching students (as opposed to just teaching “the subject”) is one that must be addressed in any school where it occurs. At the middle school level, where I teach, the students are so vulnerable and stubborn and distracted that teachers must make student engagement the focus. It’s amazing what you can do once you work as a team with your class–and heartbreaking to watch, in the classroom across the hall, the frustrations and disconnection that occurs when a teacher refuses to acknowledge the impact each student should have on each lesson.