Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tips for the frustrated teacher

I'm now up to Section 83 in Seth Godin's Stop Stealing Dreams.  This section is actually entitled "Some tips for the frustrated student".  However I think some of these apply to frustrated teachers too.  For example:

  • Your passion and insight are reality
  • Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability
  • Fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run
Frustrated teachers are probably in a better place than frustrated students.  Most students don't have much choice about whether or not to stay at school, but most teachers certainly do.  Students deserve to have passionate, persistent teachers who are prepared to stand out and take risks and there are plenty of schools who want to employ those sorts of teachers.

Photo Credit:   Frustration by Sharon Pak AttributionNo Derivative Works 

2 comments:

  1. I am amazed at the number of books you read and are commenting on. You continue to inspire me and add to my Kindle back list.

    It is true what you say about the difference between frustrated students and teachers though I had never thought of it that way before. I do have a choice to change my environment and the environment of my classroom. My students cannot unless I am running a classroom where my students feel comfortable pointing out what they would like changed. I am lucky that this class of Year 4 students are opinionated and help drive the room.

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  2. Heather, you are absolutely right - not only do teachers have the option to moving to a more positive school if they are frustrated where they are, they also have the option of changing the whole atmosphere of their classroom. Teachers have a lot of power. They might not be able to control what they teach, but they can control how they teach, how they formatively assess (which is more important than summative assessment as it helps children to grow), and a lot of the planning and day to day activities in the classroom.

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