Year 9: Week 2 - Getting To Know Them

What our students can learn, what they can achieve is sometimes more determined by our skills as a teacher more than anything else.

After nine years teaching at this school, and thirteen years in the profession, I’m better at certain parts of my craft. This has meant that my lessons are more efficient. This phenomenon puts a teachers’ mind in an interesting place. Now that things are going smoother, what do you do with this class time and mental energy?

My instinct is to do more.

This makes sense to a point. There are limits to what students can learn in a certain period of time. Even if a group of students can learn a certain amount of music in a period of time, that doesn’t mean they should. Maybe it’s taking the time to go deeper into lyrics and provide more reflection time is the path to go as opposed to doing more songs.

Over the past couple years, I’ve tried to strike the balance of adding experiences to my students’ experience while not overloading them, as well as my own capacity as a teacher. It’s strange, I don’t see myself as an ambitious person. However, I do push myself and my community to higher levels because we can, we should, and our students need this from us.

I enjoy the recognition that comes when my students perform well, but more than I enjoy the momentum that comes with that positive performance. This means that there are less people saying no to me, more people willing to help me out, and more opportunities to do the work. That’s what I strive for more than anything else, working towards a vision that is a manifestation of our school’s mission.

There are limits to everything. I don’t think I’ve quite hit my limit with all that I take on at this school, but at times I’ve gotten close. I worry at times, but I am comforted knowing that I can cut back and that even though all of the facets of my job are important, if I drop out of a committee, things will go on just fine without me.

The rush of madness that envelopes the beginning of the school year has seemed to calm down. There’s still a lot to do, but things feel less frantic. Right now, being in class feels like an escape from the stress of the other work around my role here at this school. I’ve focused more on getting to know my students more than anything else this start of the school year and that’s feels pretty good.

Maybe that’s what I should do more of this year, get to know my kids better. They are amazing, people, and really more than any performances, sharing time with them and getting to know them really is one of the best parts of this job.