An Apple from a Teacher
I knew this was going to be one of the most important days of my life. Years of preparation would soon pay off but I was still nervous. I should have been a professional when it came to first school days…. I had already survived my first day of Preschool, Kindergarten, First Grade, all the way through college. But this first day was different. Today, I was the teacher.
Nothing could have fully prepared me for the ride I was about to embark on. It was like learning to swim by being thrown in the deep end. There is no shallow end when it comes to teaching high school math. So, ready or not, the 8:30 bell rang and a room full of 30 pubescent students in their first day of school finest stared at me, waiting for some direction. I remember thinking I didn’t look much different from my students. In fact, one of my fellow teachers, mistaking me for a student, told me to tuck my shirt in that morning!
I knew that I was setting the tone for the rest of the year. Many veteran teachers advised me to “not smile until Christmas”, establishing authority. While there was a little wisdom in those words, I couldn’t help feeling I needed to be myself. If the image I portrayed to my students was not genuine, I knew that my students would see right through it. I didn’t want to be their buddy or the ‘coolest’ teacher in school- I wanted to be their teacher. I wanted them to know that they had someone in their corner rooting for them and to send them home with more to think about than just homework.
As I thought of the school year to come, it excited me to think that I might be a teacher who inspires students to love learning. I have no children yet, I have only been married a year, but having spent a day with wonderful teenagers, I couldn’t help but think of the things I hope I taught them and the things they taught me!
I learned that a little compassion goes a long way and to appreciate my mom and dad more. I learned not to reinvent the wheel and that laughing at myself and moving on is easier than trying to cover up my mistakes. I learned that stacks of ungraded papers don’t grade themselves and that most people don’t mind helping you if you don’t mind helping them every once in a while. I learned that lesson plans are ALWAYS subject to change and that being a “germ”aphobe is an excellent quality for a teacher to possess. Clorox wipes and hand sanitizers have become my two best friends.
I learned that students work circles around me when it comes to computers. I learned that high schoolers text message without looking at their illegal cell phones. Consequently, I learned to be really good at spotting texters! I learned that high schoolers are not very good drivers. I made up my mind the day I was rear-ended twice that I would not be leaving school until the parking lot was clear of students.
I learned that, while most American students don’t understand that learning is a privilege, for others high school is a high stakes game of testing and college prep for the students, their teachers, and parents. I also learned that the old “The dog ate my homework” excuse is still in practice.
The most important lesson I learned was that being a successful teacher is about more than teaching a subject. It is about molding them into decent, well rounded, independent thinking human beings. In the words of Edward W. Howe, “It is hard to convince a high-school student that he will encounter a lot of problems more difficult than those of algebra and geometry.”
As students leave high school and see the “real world” for themselves, they will need much more than formulas and definitions to succeed. In a letter to his wife Abigail in 1780, John Adams wrote, “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.” Knowledge is the one thing that no one may take away. Teach them well.
Rebecca Howard Doty has had a busy few years, having graduated from Georgia Southern University, beginning teaching at Effingham County High and marring the love of her life. She resides in Bloomingdale with her hubby Richard, and their first child, her puppy, Brin.