The X Factor in Teaching.

Do you remember when you were in high school that one teacher who was just soooo boring that you could hardly stand it?

Yeah, that person probably thought they were being interesting!

I have been a teacher for nearly thirty years now. It is very rare for someone to last as long as I have as a teacher for myriad reasons, but if you DO want make it all the way to full retirement in this game the secret is simple: Don’t take sh@t personally!

The author punishing a student for her insolence in not loving his beautiful lesson! ( Just kidding, the marching band hired me to give the band kids a workout!)

When I started teaching, I just couldn’t believe that students weren’t enamored with my wonderful lessons! When I saw a kid sleeping in class or whatever, I would get pissed at them on a personal level. I didn’t consider that students have their own lives and their own situations going on at home or that they simply just hate English. I took their various manifestations of ennui as a commentary on me personally, which made my days incredibly frustrating.

For those of us who teach, our jobs are really different than almost any other. We have a live audience, but they are a live CAPTIVE audience and for most students the joy of school (if there is any) is in the social aspects and not the time spent in class. It’s hard when your audience pans you, but it is reality, and you always have the chance to try again.

Not taking sh#t personally as a teacher is the key to longevity and even creativity. This year, I took the text of Albert Camus’ The Stranger and turned it into a court case. I was very excited about having the kids act it out , but guess what? They HATED it! I didn’t consider that it would get mundane watching the same lines be repeated by different groups over and over, and I should have. No harm no foul. I will try something different next year.

I am probably boring the hell out of some of you right now, but guess what? I ain’t taking it personally!

As a final note, please remember that if you are a teacher you can never be more interesting than your students’ friends, their activities etc. Control what you can control, and let the rest roll off your back!