Day 18 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge for teachers from teachthought.com

Here is the link to the site with the 30-day challenge. 

http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/reflective-teaching-30-day-blogging-challenge-teachers/

Day 18:

Create a metaphor/simile/analogy that describes your teaching philosophy. For example, a “teacher is a ________…”

I know that I am not following the "rules" of this Blogging Challenge. I believe it was supposed to be done in September and I believe it was supposed to be 30 days in a row. However, I am really not sure how anyone actually finished in that time frame. Maybe I put too much thought into these, but WOW have I procrastinated. 

Anyways.......This entry SHOULD be easy; and I really would love to give a creative answer, especially since I taught English for 10 years before becoming the Technology Facilitator. However, I really think that good teaching is really no different than good coaching and vice versa. Early in my career that idea escaped me. I thought that all coaching had to be incredibly intense and all teaching had to be incredibly cerebral.  What I found out though, was that my teaching AND coaching suffered given that approach. Over the course of my first few years, I turned down my intensity as a coach and took a much more cerebral approach to my athletes; on the contrary, I turned up my intensity in the classroom and tried to motivate my students as much as I tried to "teach" them. 

What I found was astounding. My classroom environment went from a place of abysmal grinding work, to a place where students felt motivated regardless of their skill level. Students entered my classroom with a smile knowing that no matter how tough the task that we were working TOGETHER to get them through it. My classroom really started to feel more like a "team" environment.   

As the Technology Facilitator (Technology Coach) for Buffalo Grove High School, I still take this approach when working with teachers every day. I approach every situation with a "let's do this together" attitude and really try to work with these teachers to get them to where they want to be in the classroom. Whether it be teaching or coaching I really don't believe that you can go wrong when you bring knowledge and motivation to the table.