To be honest, I never really planned on being a teacher. I
had thought to myself that towards the end of my athletic training career I
would find some high school, be the ATC and teach a couple classes and enjoy a
more stable schedule than college athletic training could offer. Life seemed to
have other plans because after 8 months of miserably working as a secretary at
an ortho clinic the opportunity to teach and start a sports med program at a
high school opened up and I took it. I was drawn in by the promises of good
resources, great coworkers, fun and energetic kids, the chance to change lives,
the chance to make a community better, and the ability to build something. Some
of those things came true and some of them did not. After two years I know that
I have nothing on those who are veterans of the teaching profession, but I also
feel a little bit like a war torn vet. In fact I’m almost tempted to write a
book made up completely of quotes I heard from students, parents, and other
teachers, some of these situations were funny, some were tragic, and some were
infuriating. But, despite the craziness that has been these last two years in
education I am grateful for the lessons that I have learned…
1.
Saying
“no” is pretty awesome.
My entire life I have been a “yes” person, some may say a
doormat. No matter what the request or favor or demand I said yes.
Unfortunately there were times when I missed the mark and didn’t actually do
the things I said yes to, which would typically not make me look too good. But,
as a teacher and head athletic trainer I learned very quickly the beauty of
saying “no”. “Can you head up this committee?” – “No”. “Can you cover this
extra basketball game with zero notice?” – “No”. “Can I turn homework from 3
months ago in now?” – “Nope”. No, is wonderfully clear cut. There is no black
and white when you say no, it’s just no. My first year of teaching I said “yes”
a lot… especially when it came to my students. I stopped that nonsense in my
second year and I started to use the word “No” a lot. And you know what I noticed?
My students suddenly became better behaved, more organized, and they turned
work in on time! All because they knew that if they asked to get away with poor
behavior they would hear a solid “no”. And the best part is by saying no to more
things I was able to say yes to myself.
We tend
to be a society that loves to be busy; if you aren’t busy you’re doing
something wrong. If you don’t agree to every commitment or task you are not a
team player, if you can barely get through your day because you have so much to
do for other people you are the best! Well, we seem to be the only country that
feels that way and we are also number 1 in obesity, stress, alcohol abuse, and
depression… wonder why?! Now, I’m still not great in saying “no”… in fact, I
enjoy being busy; not for the pride of it but because I like to feel
productive. But, over these last two years I have realized that sometimes doing
nothing is the most productive you can be and you have to say no to get that
time.
So… say
“no” my friends! Start saying yes to your needs and what you want to
accomplish.
2.
Cell
phones are the devil
As amazing as our smart phones are I’m pretty sure they are
slowly killing us. Especially the high school aged kids who have literally
grown up with them. Those of us in our late 20s at least remember a time when
we didn’t have the internet in our pocket and that we had to carry quarters
around so we could call our parents from a pay phone… or even 1-800-collect!
Kids these days don’t understand the struggle…. And it is turning them into
horrible people. For example: a student of mine was on her phone during a
lecture and after many warnings I finally asked her to give me her phone to
hold onto for the remainder of class, she started to cry… like seriously cry….
You would have thought I just told her that her parents had died in a car
crash. I still kept her phone for the rest of class, despite the meltdown. And
you know what? She survived! AND not a single person sent her a message in the
20 minutes I had her phone so she didn’t miss anything. This generation coming
up (and even certain people in mine) have no clue how to communicate! We have
text messaging for the awkward conversations, emojis for facial expressions,
snapchat for visual messaging, and email for the conversations that we’d really
rather not have. And then, of course, social media… I mean who could live
without it?! Honestly, we all could… we would really be just fine. These lack
of communication skills have led to a serious decline in respect, purely
because they just don’t know how to talk to people! And the spelling! Oh lord,
the spelling… without autocorrect half my students can’t spell their names.
It’s really a shame.
I try
to leave my phone in other rooms or not check Facebook (which by the way is now
an “old person” thing, according to my students) obsessively and it can be
tough! But the difference between me at 28 and my student at 15 is I will not
have a massive meltdown if you take my phone away because I am capable of human
communication.
3.
Lying is
for losers
I am lied to on a daily basis… The excuses that I hear from
students about where their homework is, why they were late to class, or even
that I am their favorite teachers… lies, LIES I TELL YOU! I will say, kids
these days are exceptional liars, I mean they know how to work a lie, they have
backup lies, and stories and sometimes they even get other people in on it. And
they look out for each other, other kids will chime in and defend the other
student, whether they like them or not, purely to show a united front against
authority. Honestly, it’s almost impressive. Just because I am telling you that
my students are incredible liars doesn’t mean that I don’t trust them, all I’m
saying is I’ve learned to tell the difference between sincerity and straight
up, bold face, lying. My future children are screwed, and they have by current
students to thank for it. And as annoying as it was to constantly feel like I
was being lied to I kind of appreciate the fact that my students tried to get
away with so much, it made me question things more, and to hold people more
accountable. So thanks kids!
4.
Sounds
cliché, but never judge a book by its cover
My two years as a teacher didn’t completely teach me this
lesson but it certainly drove it home: There is no way to tell what someone is
going through by the way they look, act, or talk on a daily basis. I don’t
think I could even count the amount of times I learned something about a
student and was completely blown away because it was not at all what I pictured
for them. For example: There was a student at school that I never taught but I
knew him well. He was the model student, incredibly polite, very smart, driven,
organized, and well-liked by his classmates and teachers, he even won a
national championship in public speaking! I had this picture in my head of what
his family must be like and I found out that I was completely wrong. He had
siblings that came through school before him who were the total opposite of
him. And parents that were completely uninterested in his academic
achievements. I couldn’t believe that this kid was able to be who he was with
so few positive examples to follow. From that point on I tried my best not to
make assumptions about my students’ families or their home life. Another
example was when I thought that one of my students was being neglected. He wore
the exact same outfit every day, he kinda smelled a little and was always
asking me for part of my lunch; all things that we are told are signs of
neglect and abuse. So when his parents asked for a conference with all of his
teachers I was eager to see who they were and decide whether or not I needed to
take action. Well, when I met the parents they were the nicest and most caring
people! Myself and the other teachers hinted at the whole he wears the same
thing every day thing… apparently he was just going through a phase and his
mother begged him every morning to please wear something different but he
didn’t want to. And as far as the asking for food thing, turned out it was a
growth spurt and his parents were having to buy loads of food because he was an
eating machine! (Sidenote: all of the parents’ explanations were verified by
the student and he thought it was all hilarious… a good sign that he was, in
fact, in a loving home and was just a dirty and growing teenage boy).
It can
be so easy to judge people. We are pretty much programmed to do so. But, it
doesn’t mean that we can’t ask more questions and learn more about other
people. I think we would all surprise each other if we gave each other a
chance. A chance to share and explain ourselves, our lives, and our struggles.
Let someone walk in your shoes and walk in theirs… if we start to do that I
think we could have a much deeper understanding of our neighbors and friends and
hopefully we won’t be so quick to judge.
5.
Never
judge a teacher by the syllabus
When I finished my masters in 2011 I was convinced that I would
never, ever go back to school as a student. I hated it and had convinced myself
that I wasn’t good at it. After a year in South Africa and a year working for a
clinic I started to get the urge to learn again, but at a deeper level than
just personal curiosity. It took me a few years to figure out what exactly I
wanted to do but I learned a lot about how becoming a teacher had changed me as
a student. I took a couple classes a GSU in between my first and second year of
teaching and the mentality I had about learning had completely changed. I paid
closer attention, I respected my professors and their choices more, I observed
their teaching style and could respect it. I even got pissed listening to other
students criticize a test question or choice the professor made when the
reasoning behind it was perfectly clear to me!
There
have been many times when I’ve been questioned by students and criticized by
parents when they have no idea the 100s of choices I make every day and why I
make them. So from now on I will be very very slow to criticize a teacher or
professor and will certainly take the proper course when it comes to asking
them for explanation.
6
.
It is my
belief that everyone should teach in a public school for at least one year
Teaching a group of teenagers from backgrounds both similar
and completely different from you is life changing. Balancing the responsibilities
you have to your (100s of) students, after school activities, administration,
fellow teachers, and yourself (listed last for a reason) teaches you
organizational skills and stress management that few other things can. Teaching
has made me a better professional, will hopefully make me a better student, and
has shaped me in ways I don’t think any other job could have.
While I
am happy to be moving on from teaching I’d never say that I regret my two years
of teaching. I don’t think that I would have discovered my true calling any
other way. I will treasure the connections I have made with my students and
fellow teachers, but I won’t miss the politics and frustration… but in the long
run all of the above have taught me a lot.
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