Teaching doesn't get easier

from Marshall Memo #806, Oct 7 2019

Teaching Doesn’t Get Easier, But You Get Better At It

            In this Education Week article, Arkansas second-grade teacher Justin Minkel says he used to think the job would get easier “at some point on a shimmering horizon – five or 15 or 25 years into teaching… Once that distant day arrived, my face would no longer flush with awkwardness and self-doubt each time my principal walked into my room to observe a lesson. I would never again see glazed boredom settle over each student’s face like a limp rubber mask. I wouldn’t once lose my temper, no matter how many times my students refused to listen or work quietly at their desks.”

            Now he realizes that teaching doesn’t get easier for anyone; these and other struggles persist. But he knows the job gets better, because teachers keep learning and growing. How?

-    Looking at your class and seeing each individual;

-    Balancing responsibility with delight, with students working hard every day but also laughing;

-    Learning when to follow your instincts and when to question long-held beliefs, “when to trust yourself and when to ask for help, when to give your methods time to work and when to try something different;”

-    Bringing your hard-earned experience to bear on each new dilemma, “whether it’s a child who still can’t read or a child who won’t stop crying and come out from under her desk;”

-    Being less negative about tests, rubrics, and standards, seeing them as important tools for teaching and learning;

-    Teaching little brothers and sisters of former students and reconnecting with families that love you.

-    Learning, “like Odysseus does in Homer’s Odyssey, that the trials of a day, year, or an entire career can become sweet in the telling – that the absurd situation that made you gnash your teeth this morning is kind of hilarious as you tell your loved ones about it over a glass of wine tonight.”

“A new school year will arrive in your fifth or 15th or 25th year,” concludes Minkel, “when you realize that the answer is not to try to make the job any easier, but to open your heart even wider.”

“Teaching Never Gets Easier. But It Does Get Better” by Justin Minkel in Education Week, September 25, 2019 (Vol. 39, #6, p. 17), https://bit.ly/2Iw7PdO