I was afraid of Facebook for a long time, not wanting those kinds of intrusions in my life.  I was worried that it would eat up my precious time and that I would get buried under the details of other people’s days.  It has, instead, become a great resource.

Living far away from family and friends, I see pictures and hear stories I would have missed even if I had lived closer.  I discover people from the past… and I learn about wonderful people like this teacher in an article from the Botswana Gazette.

As teachers, it is important for us to step back once in a while and assess the kind of teacher we are, and the type of teacher we want to be.  Here is an activity to get you started…

AN ACTIVITY: Remembering teachers

1. Brainstorm as a group: How many adjectives can you think of to describe a teacher? Make a list.

2. Next take five minutes to describe yourself as a teacher. Imagine you are one of your students going home on the first day of school and telling their parents about you or imagine you are being interviewed because you are teacher of the year. What would they write or say about you?

3. Now think back to the first teacher you can remember. Imagine what you were like at that age.  What did you like to do? What did you look like? Who were your friends?

Now think about that teacher that you remember. What was his or her name? What did he or she look like? Why do you think you remember them?

After you have spent a few minutes visualizing this person (and the person you once were), take five minutes to write down (or sketch) what you remember.

4. Next think about the best teacher you ever had and imagine both yourself at that age and the teacher before writing down the details.

5. Finally, think about the worst teacher you ever had and do the same as you did earlier, imagine then write.

6. Compare. Look at the three descriptions. What stands out? In small groups discuss what makes a good teacher, a memorable teacher and a bad teacher.  Where does your description of yourself fit?  What qualities do you possess and which ones do you wish you had?

7. After you have shared in small groups, share with the group as a whole and make a master list: what makes a good teacher, what makes a bad teacher, and what makes a teacher students remember.

I was at a workshop this week that addressed effective leadership in the workplace and I think it applies to teachers because, in essence, teachers are the headmasters of the classroom. Leaders affect those they lead. There have been many studies that directly correlate school performance to the principal/headmaster.  They “steer” the ship and the rest of the staff follows that lead. In a classroom, how you act as a teacher influences the behavior of the students.  That’s a lot of pressure, but also an opportunity full of potential. If you love what you are doing, the students will love what they are learning.

The presenter also talked about four different kinds of workers and with which of them people want to work.  There are those who are:

1)   skilled and engaging/fun to be around

2)   skilled but not engaging/not fun to be around

3)   not skilled but engaging/fun to be around, and

4)   not skilled and not engaging/not fun to be around

Obviously people in the first category are the most desirable and the people in the last category the least, but when it comes to the middle two, people prefer to work with those who are less skilled but engaging than those who are skilled but not fun to be around.  As teachers we often worry about how much we don’t know, but in truth it matters most if we care.

Happy reading (and teaching),

Heidi

A Book Review

Miss Nelson is Missing is the first in a picture book series about a teacher who steps out of her unruly classroom and returns (unbeknownst to her students) as the mean substitute, Miss Viola Swamp.  After a dose of Miss Swamp’s cruel antics, the children welcome their

“real” teacher back with open arms …  and good behavior.

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall, Sandpiper, 1985. ISBN 978-0395401460.