Teacher Staying Power

How do we keep the passion alive over time + pressure + changes in the classroom? After 28 years of teaching I can think of five things:

1. My passion for helping students learn overrides bureaucratic pressures. When I'm required to do a host of tasks that mitigate the freedom to teach, I keep helping students front and center in my motivation.

2. My commitment to who I am and my values. This keeps me undivided within when system values (political, administrative) demand compromise. Even if I stand alone and true to who I am I will be less likely to become cynical or demoralized than if I let the system change my values.

3. The desire to keep learning: workshops, writing teams, school-wide events, higher education. These give me new ideas and help me reevaluate what I'm doing and why.

4. My focus on the students as people. I want to respect each individual in spite of behaviours and pressures. Caring about students keeps me going when I have to deal with unhealthy behaviours. Also, if I'm enamoured with the content of what I teach and miss caring for the students as people, that love of content will not endure. Loving people does.

5. Creating memorable experiences for the students. Trips, fairs, creative projects, festivals....these all energize me and the students with more authentic learning experiences than sitting in desks!

The Happy Irony

For the last semester of my 28 year career as a teacher in public education I was given a course I had never taught before. At first I was mildly irritated and amused at the same time. My colleague, who has taught the Civics and Careers course for a decade gave me lots of help and I took it on with a "try it and see" attitude. It turned out to be a highlight of my career!
First, the students were eager and willing to reflect, share ideas and try new things. Secondly, the content of the course was practical and insightful. Thirdly, the exposure to real life professions was very formative. Each student invited a guest speaker to come in and share the positives and negatives of their profession, as well as how they got there. This exposure gave the students a realistic picture of certain key ingredients to success as reiterated by several of the guest speakers: it is imperative to know how to write / type correctly in proper English ( or French), a lot of hard work is required, passion is more important than salary, people skills outweigh knowledge in the long run, and finally, there is more than one pathway to the career that satisfies. In other words, it is a myth that a university education leads to a well-paying job in the career of choice for a lifetime! I feel strongly that there is undue stress placed on students in senior high to have the high grades that lead to the best university programs in order to guarantee success. Many guest speakers started in one field and ended up in another, did not go to university, took courses for professional development as they worked, went to college and got into a job they love.
The last new course of my career was truly rewarding and one of my most authentically educational experiences in teaching!

I Have My Principles, but in Practice....

Roger is a grade 11 student who is quiet, pleasant and willing to participate orally in French class. His goal is to be a mechanic or a fireman. He's in a grade 11 immersion "u" (university oriented) course. He does little written work and gets overwhelmed with instruction pages and attention to details.

I called home at midterm because he was not in a position to get his credit. His mother agreed to a contract signed by her, her son and me to try to get him back on track. He subsequently did not meet the terms of the contract. I let his mom know, and she shared that he also is having medical issues. Tests for malignancy are being done at Sick Kids Hospital. I said that in that case we can reduce the requirements to the essential pieces of the course. As he is unable to complete work independently (for a number of reasons now) I said that I would like to work with him over 6 lunch periods, Tuesdays and Thursdays over three weeks until the end of the term in order to ensure that he meets the minimal requirements. She agreed to this. Roger came twice and then stopped showing up. Later he said he didn't come because he had to do projects for other classe ( I know he also has a girlfriend and would much rather go out to lunch with her than be in the classroom).

He wrote the exam, passed it, but failed the course due to less the the minimum requirements having been completed. His mother called me, quite upset, because "you said he would pass the course". I explained that indeed I had told her that but on condition that he show up six times for extra support. I also said he did not communicate with me about being absent on those catch up days. However, based on the medical concern, I offered a final solution: Roger needs to come and work on essential requirements during the exam schedule, at times when he is not writing an exam. She said she would ensure that he showed up for these sessions.

Roger came once and I am expecting him again today.....From my point of view I'm bending on the principles of teaching students responsibility, holding to agreed upon conditions, following through on the consequences for breech of responsible behaviour. Should compassion overrule these principles in this case?

Taking Democratic Engagement Out of the Classroom

The grade 10 Citizenship & Careers course includes an introduction to democratic engagement.  I decided to make this as real as possible. First we took a democratic vote using three voting systems -by riding, proportional and preferential – to decide on a cause the group felt passionate about. In the end  the votes led to PPM 150, the 2011 Ontario law regulating food in schools. The students wanted to advocate for choice in the food dispensers and cafeteria.  They interviewed the school kitchen staff, the company representatives loading the dispensers and other students. Others researched the details of PPM 150. Then we made placards and went onto the main street of our town and demonstrated for Food Choice and Honk for Health! The students also wrote a letter to the chair of our board of education, to which he responded by coming to the classroom to commend the students for getting involved in the political process. He explained that he was impressed that the students were making a political statement in public and that politics is not just a dirty word. He even suggested other ways they could get their message out! A gratifying teaching experience!

The Risk of Losing My Colleague's Respect

A colleague in another department of my school has a son whom I have taught twice. I taught Ivan in grade nine and noted he was intelligent and sometimes too talkative in class. His behaviour was not too difficult to manage however. In grade ten he was in Madame R’s French class. His behaviour was inappropriate at times and Madame R. went to speak to his dad, our colleague, about it.  Ivan’s dad’s view was that she was the problem. This year Ivan is in my class again.  I’ve had to confiscate his hat on a couple of occasions. The school rule is no hats on in the building. Yesterday his outbursts, mostly loud verbal exchanges with another student, and the hat issue led to a talk in the hall with him. I know he wants to apply to RMC and train for the military. I asked him if the value of respect for authority was something he valued as someone entering the military. He agreed it was. I then told him I expected him to be a leader of respectful behaviour, not just someone who tries to behave on or under the line of respect.  To date my relationship with his dad has been very cordial.  I don’t know if his dad’s attitude toward me will change…..

Wanting Out?

Brad is in grade 11 French immersion. He is pleasant but shows no initiative except for minor in-class assignments he does manage to complete and hand in.  At mid-term his mark was 30%. I invited him on several occasions to come in at lunch to catch up. He did not come. I called home and spoke to his dad who thanked me for calling and said he would speak with Brad about this. A couple of weeks went by with no work coming in.  I called home again and set up a meeting with Brad and his dad. I prepared a contract that Brad filled out in our presence and we signed. It stated the extension dates and tasks he thought he could complete by those dates.  I stressed to Brad the importance of taking the initiative to fix a problem rather than let it slide. On the due date Brad came in with a USB stick and said he had not printed of the work yet. I told him that as long as he printed the work and handed it in the same day that was fine. I never saw the work.  I called the dad back to let him know. He was upset that Brad had lied to him about having the work done and handed in. I told the dad that at this late date, with four weeks left of classes, they should probably consider alternative courses for next year. I wondered out loud whether Brad was passively sending a message that he wanted out of the immersion program.  What would you have done? 

Overachiever syndrome

She came in with her mother to speak with me as I was having lunch. Hailey went home after her oral Independent Study Unit performance mark was posted and was not able to speak, eat or sleep. Her cumulative grade had fallen from 97% to 95%. She was devastated. She is currently the top student of the school in grade 11.
The mother, who spoke for her 16 year old, wanted to know what could be done. I said I didn't know what to say. "Is this an issue of fairness in your view?", I queried. No. She went on to say that Hailey had prepared so much good research material, of which a lot was not used in the time allotted to present her views. I agreed that it must be frustrating to be so well prepared and not be able to use it all in the time frame given for presenting one's point of view (the ISU was a timed informal debate in groups of four). I applauded her for the quality of her arguments and her ISU mark of 90% was in my view still excellent. I just ended with "I don't know what to say". They left my office with the realization that I was not going to make some kind of concession here.
Philosophically I take issue with giving extra opportunities to students who are already well above average academically. What will happen to her psychologically and emotionally in her post-secondary studies when she is no longer always at the top of the class? 
I asked one of my colleagues whether I was missing something here, and immediately she quipped "She can't take not being first". Indeed, another very capable student scored 100% on the ISU. 
Are we educators breeding a generation of "must haves" in terms of high marks who cannot live with the "personal failure" of anything under 97%?