I am very happy today because I met a candidate who wants to bring change. Who is in this for the right reasons?
Whose first happiness is seeing a change in kids and bringing in better education?
What kind of teacher are you? What makes you move?
The resist all change teachers
Negative. Unhappy with everything salary, kids, checking, heat, food, mother in law, tuitions etc.
If a new section is given to the teacher, she feels overloaded, if one is taken away she feels she is not being given challenges enough. If a seminar or webinar is announced, it is instantly rejected mentally and at the first break, a few more teachers are informed about how stupid the leadership or management is. There is a covert desire packed in obedience to sabotage all new initiatives. If their will ruled even a line from the textbook would not be changed.
The yes boss teacher
They are in this because it is convenient, bacche bade ho gaye hai, ghar sambhal jata hai, and then this is better than nothing. They do not have strong opinions about most of the things and with a good leader, they will do well, with a bad leader they will not question. Their job is that- just a job. While they meet all the checklist of being a teacher, they don’t see their profession adding any value to themselves and they do not wish to make any lasting changes for anyone- their students or themselves.
The teacher to be remembered forever
She or he comes with a smile. Is excited about being in the classroom. That teacher dreams of his students’ problems and feels personally responsible if some child has not understood something. They are risk-takers. They get bored in long useless PD sessions but give them a bunch of kids and a hard enough problem and they can be at it for hours. The students intuitively know that she can be reached out in case of troubles and they are usually privy to a lot of student problems including lost pencil box to broken relationships. They are usually not very famous with their colleagues and are branded chamchi or sycophant but they are well above those adjectives. They are not saints and have their own peculiarities but they regularly have their students write to them years after they have left their classrooms and are usually greeted with fond memories. They are the teachers who are remembered forever and who have a chest full of cards and notes and whose birthdays turn into celebrity affairs!
So what kind of a teacher are you? Is there some way to find out? An obvious one is an objective introspection. But another way to know is also to look at your colleague – friends. At times the people around us tell us more about ourselves than we care to admit.
What kind of people are you surrounded with? Are they constantly talking negative stuff about their life and how everyone is after their progress or do you have a few colleagues you can learn from?
Which side do you bend?
Do you feel better about your life after half an hour with your teacher friend or do you feel more anxious? Does the staff room chatter make you feel better about your work or makes you feel more like a victim?
