A great teacher that I work with gave me some great advice. He said, "Everyday, before you leave your classroom, make sure you have a reason to come back."
If you've ever been a teacher or know someone who does, you can appreciate the profundity of his statement.
Teaching in a public school isn't the most glamorous gig. There is a continuous pressure and weight that a teacher bears everyday that can all but suffocate even the best of us. More often than not, I admit, I find myself more inclined to find a reason to leave as soon as possible (especially at this time of the year!)
Nevertheless, sometime after the last bell rings and I turn to look back at the empty desks with my hand on the light switch at the end of the day, I tell myself -
"...make sure you have a reason to come back."
I'm addicted to learning. There are very few thrills that can compare to the experience of discovering a new idea, revealing what was once hidden, turning over a new stone, exploring new horizons. I still get the same biological sensation from learning as I did when I was a kid - the sudden surge of adrenaline that wells up from the tips of my toes and fingers, up my spine, and then floods into my heart and my brain as if I was finally reaching the peak of a mountain and seeing the world from a wholly new and spectacular perspective. Learning is empowering, it's inspiring, it's a fire. It encourages and molds our identity as individuals, as human beings. Learning grants us ownership of our personal value.
However, if learning is like reaching the top of a mountain, helping to facilitate and share that experience with others is like ascending up into the stars! If you've seen the peak of every mountain as far as the eye can see, imagine seeing our whole world spinning amidst the eternal, star-filled expanse of a unbounded universe!
The greatest thing about being a teacher is that moment, that point in time and space, when a student experiences learning. It's a phenomenon that is impossible to describe but you know it when it happens. The light comes on, the fog clears, a summit is reached, and the student finally sees their world from the top of a mountain.
The greatest joy as a teacher is everyday showing up to your classroom and knowing that you have an opportunity to see your students reach a new zenith, a new perspective, a deeper, better understanding of their world and that this new understanding will encourage and mold their identity as individuals, as human beings. You get to witness your students take ownership of their own personal value and you have the opportunity to help facilitate and share that experience.
Great teachers are learners. They're addicted to learning. Great teachers are also masters of igniting and inspiring the learning experience. They've shared and borrowed and practiced the art of teaching from the greats who came before them and they continuously perfect that art everyday in their classroom to point and guide their students to the mountain tops. We all know the great teachers. Our great teachers showed us the world from a wholly new and spectacular perspective. They helped encourage and mold our identity as individuals, as human beings. They helped us own our personal value.
I want to be a great teacher but I can't become a great teacher alone. I need my fellow teachers and my students to share in the experience of learning every single day.
Tomorrow, sometime after the last bell rings and I turn to look back at the empty desks with my hand on the light switch, I'll tell myself -
"...make sure you have a reason to come back."
A student reached a mountain top today. They want to climb higher but they can't reach out and touch the stars alone.
Cheers!
Josh
FourTeachers Project
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