Day 29 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 29

How have you changed as an educator since you first started?

I almost laughed when I saw this question. This could be an entire blog in itself.

Sooooooooo, where do I start with this one? 

Although there are a thousand things that come to mind, I would say that the biggest change for me is the fact that I don't sweat the small stuff anymore. 

I remember coming in as an crazed, young teacher who was always taught, "the harder you are on students the more they will respect you." I remember the "best" teachers, when I was in high school, were the ones that students feared the most. They were the teachers that had a crazy amount of notes on the board, handed out a bunch of worksheets and seemed to give a test or a quiz every other day. 

During my first year, I tried to mimic that type of teaching. I was relentless with grades, papers and notes; I was in my classroom every day by 6am (school starts at 7:30 by the way) and I "prepped" my room with notes and activities that, I felt, were making my classroom effective and forcing the students to learn. 

However, as I thought back to high school, I realized that the teachers that I remembered the most, were the ones who "didn't sweat the small stuff." They were the ones who, as a student, who you worked hard for because you respected them, not because you were afraid of them. They were the ones who developed relationships, treated you like a person, sparked conversation and inspired you on a daily basis. This really was my "ah-ha" moment as a teacher. 

My mind immediately went to my senior English teacher from Montini Catholic High School, Mr. Bannon. I remember going into my senior year and, WITHOUT A DOUBT, English was my least favorite subject.  It was a class that I dreaded every year and tried to do as little as possible to just "get by."

In spite of my hatred for English, I knew that I had to do more than I had done up to that point.  I was soon heading to college, and the thought of writing 10-15 page papers on a regular basis scared me to death. 

I remember entering class on the first day and Mr. Bannon has a calm confidence about him. 

In every other class, the first day was riddled with:

1. Reviewing the syllabus
2. Rules 
3. Rules
4. And more rules. 

Mr. Bannon's class was significantly different though. He took time to get to know the students, tell us a little about himself and got us interested in him before he ever threw a book our way. This may have been the first time I left an English class excited for the next day. 

As the year went on, my respect for Mr. Bannon grew. He was one of those teachers who took time to walk through the lunch room, stop by your table, sit down and start a conversation; he treated you like a person, not a subordinate. For the first time in my life, I started to understand the purpose of English, find my voice as a writer and really matured as a person and as a student. 

When I finished high school, I knew I wanted to get into education, but wasn't sure what subject area. PE didn't seem to interest me, and History and Math just seemed boring to me (Sorry Math and SS teachers). I remember talking to my college counselor and he asked me, "what teacher do you think you want to imitate as an educator? Think back to one person who inspired you in the classroom...what did they teach?" 

This was obviously a no-brainer for me. Mr. Bannon had such an impact on me in such a short time, that was the direction I decided to go. 

(Seinfeld Reference coming up) 

Anyways...Yadda yadda yadda, I became an English Teacher and taught English for 10 years. (I am now the Technology Facilitator/Tech Coach for my school). The funny thing about my 10 years of teaching, is that I feel that I inspired students, not by my knowledge of English or Literature, but by the way I treated them on a daily basis. 

So my biggest change as a teacher was not really what I was teaching, but rather my approach to students rather than my approach to curriculum. If I have learned anything over the years it is that, (Cliche coming) "You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar," especially with high school kids. 

Special Thanks to Mr. Bannon for still inspiring me 16 years later.