The other day I was on facebook and came across an article that really opened my eyes. The article is called "What Students Remember Most About Teachers" and was written by Lori Gard.
This article is structured as a letter from a veteran teacher to a new teacher. The main message being to slow down and stress less. According to the author the most important part of teaching is not the curriculum or the tests but being there for your students. I agree with this statement 100%. During my pre-service training I remember having a discussion along these same lines the gist of which was that if a teacher is teaching for anything other than the students, they will hate it. I saw this during my student teaching. The times I hated teaching the most were either when I got caught up in the curriculum and forgot my students or when I started comparing myself to other teachers. I forgot who I was and why I got into teaching. I thought that to be the best teacher I needed to have the flashiest lesson plans or be the most entertaining.
This leads me to my favorite line in the article. "At the end of the day, most students won't remember what amazing lesson plans you've created. No, they'll not remember that amazing decor you've designed. But they will remember you." This struck me pretty hard. The teachers that I admired the most were the ones that took the time to get to know me and who listened to what I had to say. I hope that I can do the same for my students. The best way to do this, according to Gard, is by being. Being available, kind, compassionate, transparent, real, thought, and myself. I am going to use this philosophy to drive my teaching.
The other part of the article that struck me was the admonition to stop being so hard on yourself and to stop comparing yourself to others. This was something that I really struggled with all through my education. It seemed that all through my education classes I was bombarded with what a good teacher ought to be, and so many times I thought I was falling short of this ideal. I have come to learn that there is no one perfect version of a teacher but a million unique and individual ones. One of my teachers in high school summed it up perfectly. "I
tried so hard to be like all the other teachers in my program, and I
ended up hating it and thinking that I was never going to be any good . . . . It wasn’t
until I found
my own teacher voice that I started to enjoy it and find my place in a
school. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else."
I am so glad I came across this article and was reminded of what truly lies at the heart of teaching and what makes it such a rewarding career.
