“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” (or newbies)
— Isaac Newton, letter to Robert Hooke
This post is dedicated to Erin, Jenn, Mags, and Wags.
The more I think about my teaching career, the more I realize the number of people that have influenced what I do in the classroom. On the one hand, as I’ve said earlier, I have always looked to those above me for inspiration and have sought to work under people with strong leadership qualities who know education. These people have always been great resources when I needed to “advance my game.” On the other hand, my grade level partners and other teaching colleagues have also been inspirational and helpful in improving my practice.
What’s funny is that for the first 6-8 years of my teaching career, I practically sought reclusion! My day was too busy to spend chit chatting about lesson ideas. I already had ideas and I didn’t care what color my bulletin boards were going to be or if they matched the walls! What I needed was the time to plan my ideas out into lessons. What started changing my thinking was the addition of a few young, new teachers working at my school. At some point, I overheard one of them talking about how she structured her math class. I had halfheartedly sought an approach to teaching math that would avoid boring the kids who picked up a concept quickly. In addition, there are always kids that respond remarkably well to small group instruction. For whatever reason, if they are 20 feet from the teacher, they do not understand, but if they are three feet from the teacher, they “get it.” I fretted over what seemed like periods of “down-time” for some people during math class. After hearing this novice teacher speak, I was suddenly struck by the realization that other people might have superior approaches to managing a class than I! Or at the very least, I could build on their ideas to form my own new idea! Sadly, this had never occurred to me before. I began forging closer relationships with the “newcomers” and what poured forth were many fresh approaches. Similarly, they seemed interested in my thoughts and ideas and a connection was formed that provided inspiration for many improvements in my approach and a better attitude toward collaboration from me.
What came out of this initial realization was the idea of splitting my class up into three groups of 6-8 students. During class, the groups rotate through two independent stations and one with me where they receive instruction on the current day’s math concept. These days, one of the stations utilizes laptop computers and is technology driven, giving me a high level of accountability and the students a high level of engagement. My students continually give me positive feedback about this approach and groan in pain if, for some reason, we deviate from this approach. The time flies by for everyone, I’m always instructing to small groups where I can easily monitor everyone’s progress, and I can more easily differentiate instruction (note: nothing is easy for me).
The trick for me is staying open to the mentors-my school network-that exist around me and allowing them in to my world. The experience I’ve described above is the first time I remember being inspired in a material way by my colleagues around me. I’m sure I missed many amazing opportunities before and since, to be positively impacted. It is but one example of a time I was inspired by an amazing team of teachers with whom I had the pleasure of working for several years.
This experience showed me that mentors are not always older than me and that “connecting” is a two-way street. It showed me what most teachers seem to grasp more easily than I . . . that it is our duty as educators to keep an open mind and open ears when others are talking. One can never tell when one might hear something that will end up positively impacting teaching and learning.
So, cheers to the newcomers that rejuvenated my teaching and became my mentors in the process! I can’t thank you enough!
I can’t end this post without also mentioning that this group of educators was extremely open to the idea of debate. This was pointed out by Jenn in the comments section of my first post. I miss the very honest exchange of ideas, without offense being taken. When people are forced to support their viewpoints aloud, something magical happens if it’s approached in the proper spirit, with that element of trust. The frequency of the debates to which I am referring is all too rare.
Cheers!