#64. Be who you are.

My friend shared with me the following article... It's an interesting read for teachers! I thought it's really meaningful.

What do you say when someone asks, "What do you do?"

Strictly speaking, the accurate answer to what you do is, "I teach." But more often, you probably respond with "I am a teacher." You identify your being with your professional activity. This is understandable.

In the classroom, as well, you identify yourself as "teacher." After all, you have a very well-defined role to play in the lives of your students. You are the authority, both in terms of who knows the subject matter and who is in charge.

In reality, though, despite the common ground shared by the thousands of teachers active in the educational field at any one time, "teacher" should not define you. You bring a unique blend of traits to the activity of teaching. There is not another teacher exactly like you, with your combination of background, personal and professional experience, temperament, personality, and relationships. When you walk into your classroom, you are much more than "teacher." You are you!

If you teach in an abstract or by-the-book way, while eliminating what is unique about your style and personality, you will suffer all kinds of needless frustration and conflict. You will also rob your students of some of the richest experiences that they are likely to have under your tutelage. It is when you invest your subject matter with what makes you unique that you bring the material alive for the people you teach. It is when you let them see how you have personally understood and interacted with your material that they being to understand the process of learning. And it's when you allow your true self to teach, in all its changing and growing ways, that you and your students have the opportunity to learn together.

Consider your own history with the teachers from whom you have learned. Which ones do you remember best? Who enriched your experience the most or had the greatest positive impact?

Ask yourself this question: was it what they did or who they where that made them so important to you as their student?

- The Don't Sweat Guide for Teachers
Cutting through the Clutter So That Every Day Counts

I'm truly enjoying my teaching journey! :))

With love,
clarice