Week of January 13

Imagine that a new CTE teacher has taken over the program across the hall from you. This teacher came straight out of his/her occupation into teaching and won't be able to begin NTI until the summer. What is one piece of advice (just one) that you would give this person to survive the semester? Why would you choose this piece of advice?

Being as I am a new teacher this school year I am actually a perfect example of this post. I know the first week of pre-planning several of my fellow teachers had much advice to give...

“Don’t smile until the week before Christmas…”

“Be as hard and unrelenting as you can be…”

“Don’t joke with them or anything until the first two months of school are over…”

Needless to say I broke those rules because I have a totally different teaching philosophy when it comes to my students. I believe that most kids will not connect with you if you do not share at least some of the “real” you. So in being my true self I gained the respect and honor of my students. Not all of them of course. I did have some who tried to test me in many ways, but by the end of the first semester I had connected with these kids in ways I cannot even put into words.

Someone once asked me how do we change the world? Their response was one student at a time and I, to this day, believe that answer. I believe if you meet each child at their level, on their grounds, and are REAL and TANGIABLE you WILL change the world. You may not see it in this decade or the next, but one thing is for sure, before you breathe your last you will see the fruits of your labors.

I know this probably seems farfetched for many out there but this is the basic premise on my belief in this public school system. These are the words I echo even now to my veteran teachers who watch me ever so closely. I know they want to believe what I say is true and my hope and dream in all of this is to revisit this same thought five or ten years from now and it still ring true. I believe we all have a voice in this life, no matter how soft or loud. And it is up to us to share that voice with the world.

These words are what I would share with a new teacher like myself. And in five years and ten years when I am tempered like strong steel and have seen the works of my efforts move students in ways I hope they will, I can look back on these words and still share them with the same zeal that I do now.

Mr. H