Friday, March 4, 2016

One Great Teacher

I played the role of "substitute teacher" today.  Our school district has been hit hard by a stomach virus this week which, combined with a number of pre-approved staff leaves on this Friday, created a major sub shortage this morning.  Being a Title I teacher means I'm on the top of the "call-in-a-sub-emergency" list.  And, lo and behold, I was placed in Mrs. R's class for the day.

Mrs. R teaches first grade and has done so for about five years after being a Kindergarten para in our school for roughly a half-dozen years.  She is as even-keel a lady as you'll ever find - never gets upset, never raises her voice, always has an easy smile.  She earned her teaching degree while employed as a para and our school was extremely fortunate to have a teaching opening for her upon completing her degree.

Her current class might be the most academically and behaviorally challenging class I've ever seen.  I've joked that she must have murdered all our Kindergarten teachers' pets last year to have been given such a crew.  I work in her room every day with a group of her (many) struggling students so I've been able to watch this class from day one; what I've seen has been impressive.  After today I'm even more impressed.  This mixture of alphabet soup students (LD, EBD, ADHD, EBD, Title I) has morphed into a very structured and pleasant group of kids to spend a day with.....which got me thinking about how we define great teachers.

Mrs. R's class, save a few individuals, is never going to post terrific test scores.  Their academic growth (on paper) was modest from fall to winter.  Their needs in March still far outweigh their strengths.  Yet I don't know how her teaching job this year can rank as anything less than phenomenal.  These kids know routines and procedures better than the insides of their eyelids.  They work hard.  They have acquired knowledge about topics beyond what I'd ever guessed they would know.  When they get off task (which they do....often) they can be redirected with one prompt.  I came to school tired and fully expected to be completely wiped out after spending the day with these kids but really.....I feel pretty good.

So what makes a teacher great?  Academic progress is what school is all about......or is it?  I tend to get stuck in that mindset occasionally.  But really, what would we rather be surrounded by:  intelligent jerks or pleasant simpletons?  My answer:  thoughtful people.  People who give thought to details, give thought to others' needs, think first before doing or saying, put thought into efforts.  What I worked with today was a class of students who is being molded into a group of thoughtful humans by a great teacher.  Thank you, Mrs. R, for accepting the challenge of a challenging class and exceeding expectations.  Thank you for teaching the whole child by seeing beyond test scores to find what students really need.  And thank you for reminding this teacher that high expectations work just as well with a calm voice as a loud one.

Oh, and please get well soon......one day was enough!

No comments:

Post a Comment