Joys of Teaching
2 May 2000 J’ville Council for Exceptional Children
I don’t remember sending anyone my topic.. read it in the paper.. happens a great deal.
Yesterday morning.. teacher’s room.. both copy machines broken, tests to give.. asked to take another teacher’s class.. first night at home since mid-December and parent conf… janitor running the weed-eater outside my classroom window.. Someone looked over my shoulder.. What are you doing? Writing a speech. On what? The Joys of teaching, now shut up and leave me alone.
Point: 1) Every adult who enters a child’s life is his teacher. This is not just a high moral goal or a neat theme for a banquet speech. This is an absolute necessity or the child is in trouble. Every grandparent must consider herself a teacher.. because they are, even unwittingly. Every janitor, every coach, every bus driver, every Mom and every Dad.
- Our attitude toward them and toward learning is the single most important factor in the child’s growth. I could shut up right now and sit down because that’s all I really want to say. Our attitude toward them and toward learning is the single most important factor in the child’s growth.
- If we do not teach with joy, then we should get away from the child. Sure, you can remember certain old poophead teachers from which you learned by their stern and still ways, but not much.. and not much valuable.. and not much lasting. Esley…
Jim Kern.. Mrs. Brown
I joyously and ceremoniously burn my lesson plans at the end of each school year. The plan does not count. The child does.
Can a surprise ever happen in your class? Bummy.. diaper
I’m a child of the sixties.. self-confidence still the necessary prerequisite to learning. I refuse to believe that any child can learn geometry if they don’t want to be in school. In short, if you are a teacher or a parent without joy, then you are not much of a teacher and God help you as a parent.
Matt.. baritone. The saving grace in teaching children is that if you do not enter the classroom with joy, it will come to you if you are smart enough to recognize it.
How about this for a morning’s classes that would make you cringe? Biology, a foreign language, then a class in Constitution! I see it every day.. High school biology, one of the toughest classes in school.. yet kids look forward to it every day. Ed Anderson: the lecture is as old-fashioned as the ink well. High School Spanish: I dare you to go by my friend Patty’s classroom and not find the kids smiling. Constitution: Connie Charlesworth.. demanding, challenging, tough.. yet the kids learn constitution joyfully out of a genuine need to know how our nation works. How do we achieve this joy in teaching children? ---We love kids enough to challenge them. And we do it with Joy.
We have all known teachers who are there for the check, who run over you getting out of the parking lot first, and to whom the idea of returning to school at night is akin to purposely contracting leprosy.
Lazy? Yes. Unqualified to teach? Yes. But most of all, they do not love children enough to challenge them. Not with reams of handouts and worksheets, but with genuinely stimulating and exciting and JOYOUS learning activities.
I believe Children have an innate desire to do good. We must provide them with opportunities to do this. Goon Squad.. Vicki… 8th-grade clowns… Brian’s story… We must set the trap then spring it on them.. provide the opportunities then stand gently out of the way. New SIP Plan I sent this plan to the State....NEW SIP..No reply. START W/ 100 POINTS --Minus 10 points if your athletic facility is at least 40 times bigger than your room for kids with special needs. --tour classes..2 points for every smile seen in class... --minus 10 points for every hour paperwork takes away from teaching time. --deduct 20 points if school still serves peanut better sandwiches with chili... no reason but it makes as much sense as the rest of the SIP --School earns 100 points for every teacher who’s been there for over 10 years...says something about the school --30 points for each athlete who’s been coached to think they had a good time playing a game..even when they lost. 60 points for every coach who agrees. --double school’s points for every parent who comes to the school for anything other than a ballgame. --1000 points for every teacher given the boot because they couldn’t teach. Now THAT would give you a score that told you something about the school.
A. Sweitzer: “The only ones among you who will be truly happy as those who will have sought and found out how to serve.”
And how can we teach.. how can we parent.. and truly serve? Do it with Joy!
Conway Twitty?
Joy: a conscious decision.. made every morning as clearly as your choice of shirt. The joy of being a teacher? A parent? A Friend? It’s entirely your choice and all it affects is the life of a child.
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