What fears have you overcome and how?
As an educator, you learn to make peace with your fear. You have voluntarily put yourself in a very unpredictable environmemt, with a very limited set of comsequences to use.
A lot of teachers don’t make it through their first two years because they are “too nice”. I have always been nice, but also have had a pretty good sense for when and how to pick my battles.
In the end, I always seem to find a creative solution when my back is up against the wall, like a pitcher who has lost his “good stuff” and has to now get by on guile and misdirection.
The folks that figure this out typically make it, those that don’t…don’t. Not having control of one’s class is the worst nightmare of any teacher. With some groups, it isn’t hard to do. A misstep here and a misstep there and all of a sudden you have a real battle on your hands, 72 eyes, ears, and brains…against one.
I heard of someone who recemtly taught in East Palmdale and his first day the kids took his jacket, through it in the trash and poured soda on it. I had another friend who was teaching on the rough side of L.A. that said the class he was called in to longterm sub for was because they kids had already gome through two teachers and it was the second month of school.
After a while, teachers find ways to win over students, or at least scare them enough that they think twice about acting up. A great teacher has a almost sixth sense for knowing when and how to change things. Many times the students aren’t even aware of what the teacher did, they are like stealthy beahvior modification ninjas I think that is why teachers are so widely admired.
Happy Sunday to you! Pray for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine🙏🙏🙏
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What are your thoughts on this?