Great Teachers Aren't Born

"I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about being a great teacher - steal. STEAL.  STEAL!"  Then, he left the stage.  That's how the great Harry Wong opened the day of professional development for this first-year teacher.  When he returned to the stage, he said, "Well, I told you I was going to tell you everything you needed to know.  I figured you could go home after that."  We spent the day laughing and learning from this tiny man who, at nearly 70 years of age, had more energy than anyone in the room.

Before there were Edu-celebrities, Harry Wong was one.  He didn't try to be. It didn't come from a fine-tuned marketing machine with social media support.  It came from being the real deal rather than a crafted persona, a truly influential person rather than "an influencer."  I know very few teachers who haven't had his seminal work The First Days of School somewhere in their education, whether in a college course on classroom management or required reading for their first-year training in a school or a gift from an administrator.  It is a practical book of techniques that have been tested "in the wild" and it has influenced me from year one.  From procedures for entering and exiting the classroom to attention-getting hand signals, Harry and Rosemary Wong have helped teachers create efficient classrooms and reduced stress for both teachers and students more than just about anyone in the last four decades.  But what makes that book so effective is that much of the writing was not done by the Wongs.  They collected and collated techniques teachers were already using to give younger teachers the wisdom of their experience.

Which brings me back to the day of professional development.  What he meant when he said, "Steal. Steal. Steal." was that teaching is improved by experience, but it doesn't always have to be your experience.  You can learn from the wisdom of others.  While I cannot find it attributed to him, I am 99% certain that I heard Harry Wong say that day, "Great teachers aren't born; they are made by the teacher next door."  (If I am wrong and someone else said it, please don't hold it against me.  It was 1998, and he may have attributed it to someone else that I just don't remember 26 years later.)  

It is true.  Teaching involves a thousand big and small activities every day.  They have to manage their classroom, plan lessons, do lunch duty, deliver lessons, grade homework, give feedback, write tests, create project rubrics, deal with emotional students (or parents), choose curriculum, etc.  Anyone who tries to do that alone with only the knowledge they acquired in college courses will quickly burn out.  Befriending the teacher next door and finding a co-conspirator is as important as preparing your learning activities.  Despite being with 30 to 130 people all day long, teaching can be a lonely job, and the only remedy for that is to spend time with other teachers.  No matter how good you are at this job, you need a mentor.  If the school assigns you one, that's great; but they may not be the person you naturally gravitate toward.  Find that person.  Go in their room, sit down, and start developing a relationship.  You need them. They need you.

Harry Wong passed last week, but his legacy did not.  His book will still be valuable to young teachers everywhere.  His videoed speeches will still engage and entertain while educating educators.  But if anything, his lesson to learn from the experienced teachers around you will continue to do good far beyond the 92 years of his life.  Rest in peace, Harry Wong.  We'll miss you.  

Proud She is My Friend

Note:  This blog is usually more professional and less personal, but sometimes I have no choice but to veer into an emotional place.  This is one of those weeks.  

Last Friday, we had our high school graduation.  One of the things I am honored to have on my list of duties is the graduation slideshow.  Like those of every school, it is a collection of photos of each senior with music designed to represent celebration, friendship, moving on, and everything else graduation represents.  There is, however, often a double purpose to the music I choose for the slideshow.  One year, a parent was a massive fan of Rod Stewart, so I used his song "Forever Young."  Another year, there were several kids who were big fans of The Office, so I used the Creed Bratton song "All the Faces," which he sang in the finale of the show.  In 2019, the parents of the seniors were the same age I was, so I chose Michael W. Smith's "Friends Are Friends Forever" because it was played so much during our senior years, and I thought they would enjoy the nostalgia.

This year's slideshow had a different Michael W. Smith song, "Pray For Me."  If you don't know it, let me include some of the lyrics here.  

"Here is where the road divides
Here is where we realize
The sculpting of the Father's great design
Thru' time you've been a friend to me
But time is now the enemy
I wish we didn't have to say goodbye
But I know the road he chose for me
Is not the road he chose for you
So as we chase the dreams we're after

Pray for me and I'll pray for you
Pray that we will keep the common ground
Won't you pray for me and I'll pray for you
And one day love will bring us back around
Again

Painted on a tapestry
We see the way it has to be
Weaving thru' the laughter and the tears
But love will be the tie that binds us
To the time we leave behind us
Memories will be our souvenirs
And I know that thru' it all
The hardest part of love is letting go
But there's a greater love that holds us"

While the song could certainly have meaning for the students as they separate from each other, I chose it to represent my friend Meagan.  She has taught math near me and has been my friend for ten years.  She is taking a courageous step and moving to another school.  While I selfishly wish that were not happening and had been holding onto my denial for weeks, she is going to take her wonderful heart and spirit to a new place.  God will use her there in different ways than he has used her here.

She began teaching math at GRACE at the age of 22 without having majored in education.  I have known many great teachers who did not have education degrees, but it makes it more challenging for them because they haven't been taught jargon (like IEP, accommodations, weighted categories v. total points) or received preparation for classroom management, choosing textbooks, or deciding on a grading philosophy.  Meagan learned quickly because her heart was invested in doing the job well for her students, sometimes giving way too much of her time.  The crazy girl was also coaching tennis during those first few years, so she ended up working all kinds of night and weekend hours.  That investment, however, gave her great relationships with students as did her decision to head up the student council a few years later.  Whatever she does, she pushes students to be their best, and they love and respect her for it.

When our math department chair retired, Meagan had only been teaching for three years; but she was promoted to the position.  Math can be one of the most difficult departments to chair because every student has to take math every year, and there is a lot of math phobia in the world (and not just among students - parents have their own memories and fears).  That means math teachers deal with a lot of other people's anxiety, and their department chair is a sounding board for reply emails, tutoring requests, etc.  It. Is. Hard.  But Meagan never made it look hard.  She happily edited drafts of those replies, researched good practices for her department members, talked through issues, and even helped edit exams.  I've been the science department chair for 16 years, but Meagan was a better department chair than I have ever been, holding the hands of students, parents, and colleagues year after year.  She is such a source of kindness.

Meagan has prompted me to grow as an educator, but she has also challenged me to grow as a person in so many ways.  In these politically polarized times, she makes sure that she doesn't live in an echo chamber.  She intentionally reads books and listens to podcasts by people with whom she disagrees to make sure she understands their perspective.  I was talking about something a few days ago, and she said, "Yes, but here's what they would probably say in response to that."  She wasn't asking me to change my mind or even telling me that I was wrong; she was just showing me the perspective I wasn't considering.  I would advise you to seek out a person in your life that can do this for you, but those people are incredibly rare so you might not be able to find one.  It may be easier to look for a unicorn.  She is such a source of wisdom.

I told someone recently that I knew it made me sound like I was 8 years old to say "I'm sad because my friend is going to a different school next year," but it was true because I was going to miss her so much.  I talk to her about everything, from the personal to the professional to the political or the spiritual.  I value her advice as much as anyone I know (in spite of her being 14 years younger than I am).  She is such a source of wisdom.  But I also love being silly with her, laughing about our student stories, something we saw on Stephen Colbert or John Oliver, or talking about "Naked Girl" at the Y.  She's one of my favorite people to tell something funny or hear something funny from.  She is such a source of joy.

She's going to take all of this wisdom and joy and kindness to a different school next year because, as the song says, "the road He chose for me is not the road He chose for you."  While I am going to miss seeing her every day, I know we will stay bonded (and are already making plans to take kickboxing together) because even though "the hardest part of love is letting go," I also know that "there's a greater love that holds us."

As she said in the card she gave me yesterday, "This is not a goodbye card. It's a celebration of our friendship card."  I'll say the same for this post.  It's not a "farewell to my friend" post.  It's a "proud she is my friend" post.