Technology in Teaching

I was talking to someone at school this week, and we were comparing notes about teaching in our later years.  She has been at this school, and in the same system, for some time.  I, on the other hand, spent the first 15 years in the same system, then bounced around, in one state or another, for the last 7 years.

There are some common themes:

• We aren’t as energetic as we once were.  We need to pace ourselves, which we do by finding ways to make the job easier – handling paperwork, using well-established routines, being able to draw on lessons that worked, etc.  We use evening and weekend time to prep for the week.  The younger teachers, to hear them tell it, have an ACTIVE social life.  Not us.  During the school year, we are NOT partiers.  We live by the rhythms of our school schedule.
• We have honed our skills in managing behaviors in class.  Acting-up kids don’t throw us – we’ve seen most of the likely problems before, and have experienced conflict.
• We dress for teaching – no heels, comfortable shoes, nothing too short or too tight.  Women teachers look for pockets in our clothes – we always need to stash a pen, money, keys, etc.
• We use downtime – in between classes, we stand with a clipboard, grading papers or making notes.
• We have put our stamp on the classroom – pictures, plants, favorite cup.  Over the years, small gifts from students and parents have given our classrooms a lived-in look.
• We know our subject.  We know the parts that will trip up or puzzle students, and have developed ways to meet those challenges.
• We have seen principals and admins come and go.  We take the best from those we can, and try not to get too wound up about the worst.
• The school secretaries are the BEST!  They have a tough job, and they keep everything going well.
• Ditto on the cleaning and maintenance staff.  They are constantly opposing entropy, and they keep a good attitude.  Number 1 tip:  Learn their names, and something about their lives.  They are not “just” anything – they have value, and are often some of the most informed people in the building – don’t forget, they get around everywhere.  If anyone knows what is going on, they do FIRST.
• Our lives involve CHANGE.  Every year (or semester, for those of us teaching on a block schedule), we get a new crop of students.  New names to memorize, new learning for them, new challenges for both of us.  Every few years, we are told to change everything we’ve been doing, and adopt the new curriculum.  Every 5-10 years, a new textbook.  Turnover in teaching staff is huge (about 1/2 of all teachers leave in the first 5 years), so there’s always a noob to break in.  Discipline, behavior, teaching philosophy, equipment, materials, technology – all have changed drastically from even 5 years ago.  We cannot do what previous teachers did, and keep the same lessons, virtually untouched, from the beginning to the end of our careers.
• Change is the NORM.  Plan on attending workshops until the last days you teach.