I have finally learned at age 71 how to teach and it doesn’t have too much to do with the number of publications (scores) or degrees I hold (three). It’s now nearly 45 years since my first teaching job at Billerica’s Marshall Middle School. It ended in Lowell after ‘only’ 20 years. What happened?
The 1980s and 90s saw vast changes in teaching: tenure was eliminated in favor of professional status after three years, teachers were required to get a master’s degree, and standardized testing was introduced, to name a few factors.
Computerized learning hit all at once, overwhelming many teachers. In 1990, most of us didn’t know how to use email. In a few short years, it became the only mode of communication.
It didn’t take long for me to lose patience and throw idealism out the window. After about four years at age 33, I started feeling I made the wrong decision.
I lost my job teaching in Billerica only to land next door in Wilmington and lose that job, too. My first teaching jobs were eliminated due to what was then known as Proposition 2-1/2, a tax-cutting measure that, as usual, hit public education: art and music were hit first; young teachers next.
I then landed a high-school teaching job in Lowell and hoped working with older students would be right for me. It wasn’t. That was 1986. Was it me that was the wrong fit? Did I simply not know how to teach?
Freshmen came in with elementary-level reading skills. Sophomore classes began with, perhaps, 24 students and ended with 18 or 16 still coming, as many dropped out or simply disappeared. Yet I kept trying.
I did what many teachers do: I transferred. I had taught both middle and high school. Now I was headed for the fourth grade. The road, however, grew muddier.
But it was there I met a man I very slowly came to revere: Roger Landry of Lowell, an old-school school principal. I started to settle down. Roger’s door was always open. He always seemed relaxed, unshakable. He gave me a piece of advice I carry with me to this day.
“Michael, you are trying too hard,” he told me.
This advice was in response to a substitute teacher who was confused on what to do a day I was absent. Confused! This was fourth grade! I had left a plethora of work which confused her. Upon looking into it, Roger realized I was trying to cover too much.
Moving at the speed of light for type A personalities like me is not without rewards or risks.
The risk was usually disappointment, disillusionment. This ended in what is commonly known as burnout, which affects many professionals. Teachers are no different.
Teachers need the energy of a long-distance runner, the patience of Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the competence of a scholar. This is unrealistic. It can lead to a teacher trying to be perfect. .
A series of circumstances brought me back to teaching at age 60. But this time as a substitute. What I have noticed after nearly 1,500 subbing jobs in the last eight years is this: the best classrooms seem relaxed, stress free.
Roger Landry’s messages echo: The best teachers moderate themselves. They find balance which, though it can be learned, is, for some, a gift.
Teachers in these classrooms move with ease. The students in these classrooms also seem to move with ease. Worry seems limited and voices are not raised. Patience is monumental and these teachers are very slow to arrive at anger. Respect is paramount: no name calling, no belittling.
When I began teaching, my expectations were far too high resulting, as I look back, in tension I lived with day in and day out. I took to heart every problem. It was an impossible thing to do. Teachers – and dare I say parents – have to be careful not to try too hard.
When working with people (and especially kids), we are going to make mistakes. The only thing we can really expect from teachers, from students, from schools, from parents is that things will not always go as planned: imperfections rule.
The teacher who tries to be perfect, along with the school principal and his team, will end up disappointed. Strive for the best, prepare for plan B.
Disappointments are not the end of the world or your career. They are simply a part of life, even if sometimes hard to accept in an achievement-oriented society like ours.
Life, teaching, parenting is about adaptation.
Michael Veves spent 20 years as a public school teacher before opening an equestrian stable, closing it after 20 years and following his next passion: ballroom dancing. He continues to substitute teach.