Before John retired from teaching, and moved to Colorado, not too many years ago, a new teacher queried John re: advice…. As the new school year is settling, John’s answers seem insightful, and timely today. — Annie
Questions about teaching high school posed by Kevin Cline, a Munster, Indiana teacher, to John Bolinger:
1. How has teaching changed since you started teaching?
Teaching has changed over the past thirty-five years, because the world has changed. Attention spans are shorter (thank you, MTV) and diversity continues to increase in every classroom. Yet, behind the masks we all wear are the same basic needs that have always existed…the desire to succeed and to be accepted as a part of one’s world. Technology has certainly made its mark through computers and more sophisticated communications…but in a recent survey, high school students across the country were asked what they liked best about their schools. Virtually no one mentioned computers, movie equipment or any other forms of technology. In the responses PEOPLE were always the focus of what was meaningful. Even computers have not changed that.
2. As a future teacher what should I be doing to best prepare myself for a teaching career?
Develop your people skills and observe the growing diversity of the populace. Suspend judgments about appearances and try to understand and tolerate what is new and different from what you’re used to. Read everything you can about new approaches, but don’t be taken in by the trendy obsessions of the academic world. Its terminology changes every few minutes so that the public at large never quite catches up. Be yourself and decide why you want to be a teacher. Have a passion for it and devote yourself to the craft with all your energy. If it is done well, it will be a way of life, not just an occupation. Know your strengths and weaknesses and be honest with yourself about what you expect to derive from teaching.
3. What is the biggest challenge facing any first year teacher? How can I best prepare myself to face that challenge?
Keeping order and an environment of keen interest are very important.
All the techniques for conveying information are useless unless the classroom is a safe and orderly place in which to think and to exchange ideas.
Learn to provide an anchor of expectations, but also give the chance for some surprises and excitement daily. Be consistent and deal with “whining,” which seems to have become our national pastime. Know that students will test you to see if you REALLY care. In a little while when they know that you do care, they will accept you and the challenges you give them.
4. How do you motivate students? How do you keep them interested in what you are teaching?
This question is worth an entire book. Individualization is, of course, important, but the most important thing to arouse interest is your own passion for learning. The excitement you generate comes from deep within YOU first, not from some text book. Your love of a story…or even a lesson on punctuation will be infectious. If you hate THE SCARLET LETTER, students will pick up on this, and you will not motivate them to love it either. Humor used in small doses breaks the ice for many things. You are not a stand-up comic or a night club act or a substitue for MTV, but you will succeed more if there is a sense that you do not take yourself too seriously. Sometimes students can learn much more from Bart Simpson than from Ernest Hemingway. Cajoling has its place. (i.e. “Do your homework. I know where you live.”). I took my French students to France in 1999. Talk about motivation!
5. What is your approach to classroom management? How do you handle individual discipline problems?
Classroom rules revolve around mutual respect. The golden rule is of prime importance, and every behavior precept comes from it. Positive reinforcement and rewards (i.e. writing a wonderful letter of praise home to parents when there is appreciable improvement) work wonders. In general, taking a student into the hall for a one to one talk is more valuable than scolding and embarrassing in front of peers. I do not believe in the whip and the chair method for classroom management. Treating students like grown ups tends to yield grown up behavior, at least in my experience. Listen to their sincere concerns. Tune in to their angst. Try to find out why students are angry. It is usually not because of your class but rather because of some outside conflicts. Listen to them whenever you can. Let them know that you believe in them and that you want them to succeed. They will behave.
6. How do you go about planning your daily lessons? How much time do you spend on planning any one lesson? What lesson material sources are available to you?
I plan daily lessons according to the “chemistry” of the class. There are times when some things seem like drudgery to some students. A spelling lesson or one on punctuation may prove to be anesthetizing. There can’t be dancing bears everyday, and you won’t be able to use your top hat and tap shoes every minute either, but that’s the way the world will be too. The workplace is not Disney World either. Engaging students is a given. They need to find solutions and to think critically about the world in which they live. That world is the body of my resources. Anything and everything that relates to lesson material is fair game for reinforcement. I spend an hour a day planning lessons. Remember that with a hundred and fifty students, there will be a great deal of other paper work if you are teaching academic subjects. You will need to allow yourself some moments for sleeping, bathing and eating from time to time.
7. How do you assess your students’ progress? What do you consider to be the most effective ways of evaluating student performance at this grade level and/or in this subject area? What is your opinion of ISTEP+? (Indiana State testing for public schools)
Students often appreciate concrete evaluations in terms of points. I keep a “bank account” of them for each student. At the end of a grading period, the student can buy the grade he needs or wants based upon the points he has earned. Beyond that I like to see students enjoy learning for its own sake, but the reality is somewhat different on a daily basis. Progress is individual. I am opposed to regimentation on the basis of scores alone. If a student is trying and showing improvement on any level of his ability, his efforts are valid. We rarely measure creativity or enthusiasm. Everything public education espouses suggests a huge conveyor belt leading to some employment office somewhere. It is right out of something Rod Serling could have written. I know that ISTEP was designed to particularize skills and to measure them. Politicians have used the tests as PR for their own political agendas, and we have come to think that these tests show the only success of teaching and learning in classrooms across the state. Nonsense!
8. What types of activities are you involved in to keep yourself current with changes in teaching and learning? What educational publications do you suggest that I read? I read AMERICAN EDUCATOR and PHI DELTA KAPPAN (professional journal from my fraternity). I attend workshops and talk to teachers from other schools and ones at Morton to exchange ideas.
9. What words of wisdom can you give to a future teacher?
Always find the colleagues on your staff with whom you share ideals and convictions. Share your concerns, hopes and ideas. Never isolate yourself. Be open to new ways of seeing. Such interest in life is fundamental to all learning and teaching. Personalize your style and develop your greatest gifts. Accept that everyone is different and celebrate that diversity, knowing that you will not reach everyone everyday in ways you would like, but that in the wider view you will be doing work that in its own way is changing the world. You will be planting seeds that will yield wondrous things later on that you may never even see. The domino effects of teaching are cosmic.
JB
The photo at left is an example of John’s advice to personalize your style, develop your greatest gifts, and celebrate diversity. — Annie
