Tiptoeing

 

Being a teacher is very lovely profession.  It comes with great things and yes our calendar is filled up with an amount of free days that many envy us for.  Still when I decided to become a teacher there was a very big number of teachers.  I even remember that we were told that your degree could even help you to get a job outside education and that we had not to worry too much.  Still all I wanted was to teach in a classroom filled up with young minds and still dreaming more than worrying about what was ahead of them.  This lady signed up for this job not just for 100% but for the 200% and was willing to go the distance for each one of that walked into my classroom.  If someone goes after my kids then I feel as if they cut into my own skin.   This teacher loves to advocate for all those that I see day in day out coming and going.  

After all it are these younger kids that are the future and even if this might sound as a cliché it is just a fact that while we grow older and our hair colour needs some artificial help these young minds get shaped in front of my eyes.  Before I now dive into what scares me I wish to point out that over all there is still enough that keeps hope afloat.  There are enough youngsters that surely know what they stand up for and creativity is still alive and kicking even when there is now a certain AI available that can do all the work for them.   This teacher is not desperate that most of the ones that she has been teaching will not make it.  The majority will and that I have been part of that journey is still one of the best side effects of my job.  

I am very proud of my students...every single one that I had under my wings since I walked into a classroom.  And I don't need champagne or a bunch of roses to thank me for my services...after all I have those extra days of a holiday and I spoil myself with an extra day to the spa to rejuvinate after a long academic year.  Or I spend way too much money on my books I picked out for my summer read.  After all I have always been used to cooperate in the shadow.  This girl loves backstage to operate and will only now and then jump into the limelight when she feels fully prepared.  Rather I let my students shine.  

Over more than two decades I have witnessed so much that has made me feel up with joy.  Those memories nobody will ever take away from me.  But at the moment I do wonder where the world is leading to.  And honestly I do wonder what part I am allowed to play in it.  No, I am not talking about the unpredictability that comes along with planning my lessons or that the there are now policies are once again changed.  In most jobs flexibility is a must.  That is not what scares me...it is more complicated. 

The newspapers and social media are full of buzzwords and most of them also find access into the schoolbuildings and many of them will also be covered in lessons.  After all does society has got high expectations of what education includes.  Teachers are superheroes when it comes down to absorbing the wishes of others and we listen very carefully to the ones who surround us.  Our stakeholders are a very huge group and a very diverse one.   The latest insights in so many fields has got an impact on what I do...I knew that when I signed up for the job.  It was something that I was fully aware.  As a teacher I am very willing to walk into the shoes of someone else because otherwise you will not survive what I do.  

There is nothing wrong that policy makers, parents and students tell us what they want.  It is part of the process and it makes our job a very interesting one.  It is just that more and more I do wonder if these stakeholder also wonder that we are only human and also have certain targets we wish to get.  I am not only talking about those things I aim in for in a lesson.   It is more complex than this...It is rather linked with the number of shoes I try to walk in...the shoes of someone else.  My empathy is tested and my own wishes and certain princples and social skills that I was tought and strongely believe are daily under pressure. 

No...I don't get it that I just have to listen to what people wish and want. Nope...I don't...honestly I don't.  I am also a human being who has aspirations and strongely believes in certain things.  Good things...I have been educated by great teachers...my history teachers aced it and it mainly because of them that I choose for education, my year 6 primary teacher who never ever gave up on me, a specific teacher of Dutch and English and also a teacher of German who have made me pick education were the ones who taught by example.  Nope they were not the ones that just came in with a textbook that just read out loud what was in there and shared the correct answers with us. Every single one of them had their own style and ways to get us on board.   They stood out because they just went a bit against some of the stream...not that they were creating a tempest.  These educators tickled something inside of me and foremost they did it with respect....unconditional respect.  The passion they reflected just was so visible.  It was a very strong sensation and nope nothing was easily gained but not once I felt as if I was not taken seriously by those I just mentioned above. 

Not one of them was the same but there was one thing that they had in common and that was they wished us to be respectful. They also never had to say the word outloud.  The respect was tangible and it was mutual. It is something that I can very hard explain.   And no we teenagers did not need to be told what that word did withold.  Now some of you will now tell me that I need to just get on with it.  Young minds are nowadays so much more under pressure than we weren and that respect is something else than what I understand under the word respect.  Or that I am just growing old and just can not seem to keep up anymore with all the newest developments in education, technology, pedagogy, art, policies, gadgets,......It is what it is and I just need to move on and just try to keep my head down.  Well...at the moment I am bit tired and need to catch my breath. 

Stallie still loves passionatedly was she is doing and will still go the distance but now and then I do need someone sincerely checking in with me.  Plus if I will open up and tell you that I seem to have the impression that there is a bit too much change that I then need a hug or that you will gladly join me for a magaritta and nachos in my favorite mexican restaurant.   You don't need to give me advice because honestly as a teacher I get advice constantly of so many people who freely share their opinions about education and how they would reform the system.  Well...I dare you to sign up for a teaching job.  Yes, it is one of the best jobs in the world but you need cape and also a magic wand to get through most of the academic years.   

But hey, nope I am not going to be able to fix all the issues that we are facing at the moment and I don't have the intention.  Partly because so many of us can also take a bit more responsibility to support eachother in the learning process.  It starts within ourselves to make a change and I as a teacher I am very willing to support you but I am not going to hand you over a formula to brew a magic potion that will fix it all.  We are all in this together and so if you jump on the bandwagon and scream out your wishes and demands you also need to be aware that at a certain moment you will have to come down of that band wagon and get to work... Don't you worry I will keep up my end of the bargain but it takes a village to raise a child...and nope that is not a cliché I am afraid that is the harsh reality.  One that offers so many opportunities but only can be successful if we all push together forward...even if we don't know where the road is leading us.  Yes, there will be tiptoeing involved and some pushing and pulling but if we hold it together in a respecful manner then chances are very likely that we all will get our final destination...just keep going...don't stop...keep going...