Recently on a lazy summer morning, I was scrolling social media when a post caught my eye. It asked veteran teachers to give advice to those new to the profession in five words or less. This challenge appealed to both the wordsmith in me and the vision I have of myself as a sort of “teaching guru,” so I got to thinking. Many of the comments already posted offered bleak advice like, “Find a new job now” and “Choose a different career path.” I knew the posted advice was well-intentioned and certainly reflects the frustration that many professionals feel in education, but I also know this simple truth. If you have been called to do the work of a teacher, you can’t just “do something else.” You only have one path and as tempting as it may seem to divert and move in another direction, you simply cannot. Your heart and your mind will lead you straight back to the work you know was meant just for you.
I considered this basic truth along with my own thirty year career as a teacher and formulated this response, “Secretly be your own boss.” That’s it! That is how I have been able to stay fulfilled even during the bleakest times in education and in the toughest times in my specific middle school. Of course, I follow the mandates proposed by administration each year and I attend all required professional development. Sometimes I even smile and nod in agreement. I still listen and consider all the new ideas presented. I’ve gotten excited about current trends in social emotional learning (SEL) and the work to make literacy a priority across the curriculum.
That said, I have also worked to buck the trend of expecting that teachers should follow scripted lessons and/or literally be on the “same page” as their teaching cohorts. I remind myself that I am a trained professional with over six years of college in coursework centered on educating. When I feel like outside pressures are pushing to have me or my school do something I know is not in the best interest of the students or the sanctity of learning, I take a breath and embolden myself with the knowledge that I have a Master’s degree in Middle School Education with an Emphasis on the Teaching of Writing. Pair this with my teaching experience, and I am more than qualified to make decisions about the learning in my classroom. So I do.
One example that comes to mind happened a few years back. The good idea of setting a purpose for learning and involving students in goal-setting as it relates to their personal growth took a misguided turn, in my opinion. Teachers were encouraged to post a picture of a bullseye in their classrooms with a reading test scale score written in the very center. When the students took quarterly reading screeners, they could check their scores against the posted bullseye. I never posted the bullseye graphic. We took our screener each quarter and we discussed their goals, of course, but I never devoted wall space to that bullseye. I made a conscious decision as the “secret boss” to not have that sign front and center in our classroom.
I did not want the unintended message of that bullseye. I feared students would reduce their growth for an entire school year to just a number determined by one test on one day at the end of one school year. Instead, I wanted them to see learning as a journey not a destination, and the bullseye motif did not sit well in that regard. So, did I lose points in the evaluation process because I didn’t have the posted bullseye sign? Maybe. It wasn’t specifically mentioned in my evaluation feedback. Was I passed over for grooming as an instructional Coach or another post that plucks a teacher out of his/her classroom? Quite possibly. Because the absence of the bullseye sign in my classroom does signal a level of independent thinking that may not be viewed as an asset in today’s educator. That said, when it comes right down to it, I quietly and competently run my classroom just the way I know yields the best results in my quirky middle school demographic.
In the end, I just hope my students learn from my example, noticing that when their formal education is complete, they should, like me, be able to move through the world confidently.
And, most importantly, I hope they move with the ability to think for themselves.
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