(This post in honor of the brave souls who will begin their first year of classroom teaching this fall.)
Letter to a Young (Brain Surgeon) Teacher:
So of all possible fields you have chosen brain surgery. You want to operate on the brains of young people without the respect, status, monetary reward and auxiliary support of a "real" surgeon. And if that is not enough, you will be doing your work on multiple brains simultaneously without nurses and operating room staff supplying you with the customized tools you need in a moment's notice. During group brain surgery, you will improvise your way, balancing the needs of each with the needs of the class as a whole. You will be endlessly challenged by all the learners before you and how to best unlock their potentials. Scalpel, suction, compression! You will decide - make mistakes and change course - in fact "improvise/revise" will become your middle name. You have made the grand decision to be become an agent of change.
Your bedside manner will not only dictate your success, it will be crucial to the unfolding of the two-way street that must exist for "real" surgery to occur. As you create an emotionally safe space in your classroom, the brains before you will become active participants. With this success you will learn that you too are on the operating table, your students changing you as much as you change them. You will become a guide, adjusting to the learning needs, rather than a know-it-all-sage with all the answers. Mutual respect will define the two-way street of engagement between you and your students.
Learning on the job will become your addiction. For to remain a teacher is to remain a learner with the job itself gracing you with the most profound laboratory you could ask for. Each brain before you the unfolding of so many variables, you will have to draw lines and create strategies as you discover the complexities. Who is this brain? What learning back story has lead it here? What are its needs? How does it understand?
For taking one of the hardest and most complex jobs, Congratulations! ...And the next time you hear someone use the phrase "it's not brain surgery" or "rocket science" to describe something modestly difficult you may confidently add that "it's not teaching either."
Regards,
From a fellow teacher
So of all possible fields you have chosen brain surgery. You want to operate on the brains of young people without the respect, status, monetary reward and auxiliary support of a "real" surgeon. And if that is not enough, you will be doing your work on multiple brains simultaneously without nurses and operating room staff supplying you with the customized tools you need in a moment's notice. During group brain surgery, you will improvise your way, balancing the needs of each with the needs of the class as a whole. You will be endlessly challenged by all the learners before you and how to best unlock their potentials. Scalpel, suction, compression! You will decide - make mistakes and change course - in fact "improvise/revise" will become your middle name. You have made the grand decision to be become an agent of change.
Your bedside manner will not only dictate your success, it will be crucial to the unfolding of the two-way street that must exist for "real" surgery to occur. As you create an emotionally safe space in your classroom, the brains before you will become active participants. With this success you will learn that you too are on the operating table, your students changing you as much as you change them. You will become a guide, adjusting to the learning needs, rather than a know-it-all-sage with all the answers. Mutual respect will define the two-way street of engagement between you and your students.
Learning on the job will become your addiction. For to remain a teacher is to remain a learner with the job itself gracing you with the most profound laboratory you could ask for. Each brain before you the unfolding of so many variables, you will have to draw lines and create strategies as you discover the complexities. Who is this brain? What learning back story has lead it here? What are its needs? How does it understand?
For taking one of the hardest and most complex jobs, Congratulations! ...And the next time you hear someone use the phrase "it's not brain surgery" or "rocket science" to describe something modestly difficult you may confidently add that "it's not teaching either."
Regards,
From a fellow teacher
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