“when you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave” – master kan, kung fu
one of the worst things for a new teacher to do is to surround themselves with only other new teachers…and in doing so, thinking that it’s gonna make them the best teacher in the world…it’s kind of like teenagers who expect to become mature, amazing grown-up people by surrounding themselves with only other teenagers…
the last time i checked, it takes about 3-6 years to go from an apprentice to a journeyman in the trades…
teaching is a trade, people…one of the toughest trades in the world…so, it’s gonna take some time to get it down, it’s gonna take some time to become skilled at it…
sure, there are old-timers who are “phoning it in” until retirement…to those types, to those guys and gals…i’ll say, time to clock out, buddy–get to steppin’, chica! but, what job doesn’t have people like that?! all in all, those ‘hanger-on’s’ make up a small percentage of the larger teacher blob…
anyways, what new teachers need to do is to…spend time–lots of time–around seasoned instructors…ones who are tried and true...ones who are still creating, dreaming, and working hard…ones who are still committed and passionate about what they’re doing…
the last time i checked, it takes about 10 years to go from a padowan to a jedi knight…
i mean, any rookie can be fired up about this kind of work–for a minute…yeah, they’re good out of the gate…but, the best of the best do it year in and year out…so, my advice would be to…get next to those people, ask a lot of questions, learn from them–soak up as much as you can–be the sponge…embrace the teacher blob, for you and for your students!!! 🙂
[one of the current issues and challenges in teaching in america today is that…the average time that a new teacher spends in the profession of teaching, before leaving, is five years (walsh, 2014)…in my opinion, it takes about just that long, 4-5 years, to figure how to do the job well and get to a place where you’re on top of your work as an educator…so, if people are leaving at that moment in time…they are leaving just when some of the rewards can be reaped (i.e. when the hard work starts to pay off)–for them and for their students–and they are leaving just when they’ve become a skilled and valued member of the trade…if this trend continues, it does not bode well for the future of education in the u.s.]
(it's like) herding cats... 