How we conduct ourselves at school plays a
significant role in how others perceive us, it is very simple, act like a
professional and you will be treated as a professional. As a professional
educator I believe it is important to be collegial in our relationships with
our coworkers. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Schools can be
notorious for their drama, and I am not talking about the students. I know that
it is human nature to gossip, but as a professional you shouldn’t get caught up
in your school’s machinations and intrigues, it is a poison that can slowly
kill camaraderie, esprit de corps and
can lead to suspicion and division, all of which is antithetical to student
learning and achievement. I know many teachers who avoid the break room and
other social interactions with colleagues for this reason. If you need to vent,
as we all do from time to time, use discretion and talk with someone you trust
who is not directly connected to your school. Stay above the fray, it will pay
off in the long run as your colleagues and administrators will respect your comportment
and judgment. If in doubt remember what
your mother told you “if you don’t have anything nice to say, than don’t say it
at all.” It is easy for negativity and pessimism to creep onto your campus, but
instead of saying negative things about others, try being more positive. As
motivational speaker Brian Tracy points out “You cannot control what happens to
you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that,
you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.”[i]
As
teachers we are in the service of others, and that means other teachers too.
Don’t let petty jealousy and egotism get in the way of your mission to educate
young people, instead offer praise and a kind word even to those who haven’t
always been kind to you. Random acts of kindness can do wonders not only for
the recipients of your magnanimous gestures but for you too. I have found that
if I am in a bad mood for whatever reason, doing something nice for someone
else makes me feel better, especially it is for someone I don’t particularly
like! Some other things you can do to influence a positive work climate: nominate
a teacher for an award, send your principal a note describing a colleague’s
good work, put a thank you card in your colleague’ school mailbox, spread
“good” gossip about a colleague.
Be
mindful of the things you say while on campus, and make sure that all
conversations are appropriate to the audience. Teachers should never reveal
intimate or salacious details of their personal lives to students. For example
it is not O.K. to discuss your exploits at the club, or how much beer you drank
with your buddies over the weekend. I believe it is important for teachers to
develop healthy relationships with their students and revealing small amounts
of personal information is permissible especially if it is used to motivate
your students or teach them an important lesson about overcoming hardships. For
example, I know a teacher who lost over 100lbs of body fat, this teacher is an inspiration to staff and
students alike and his story should be shared with others. Other examples include
military service, prior work experiences, hobbies, sports interests, travel
experiences, and family to name a few. Teachers are real people with real
lives, and this information makes us more accessible to our students. If you
are the first in your family to go to college, for example, share this with
your students. Who knows you might motivate someone else to go on to higher
education who might not otherwise have thought it impossible.
Teachers
are licensed professionals in their areas of expertise and I believe we have a
responsibility to use our subject mastery to educate children, but teachers do
not have the right to use their classroom as a bully pulpit for their own
personal agenda. Students are a captive audience, and it is not fair to subject
them to your one-sided tirades, especially when they do not possess the
sophistication and experience to know better. If you are going to examine a
controversial issue or discuss politics, for example, be prepared to present
all points of view in an unbiased way. Learning takes place when students are
confronted with new ideas and points of view and are given an opportunity to
discuss them with each other, not by being lectured at by the teacher. This is
a sure way to undermine your student’s trust.
Teachers
should engage in discussions that pertain to their subject area and curriculum,
I know it is easy for students to go “off topic” as they are naturally curious
about their world and they want to know more about it and this can sometimes
lead to discussions that have nothing to do with the lesson. But as the teacher
you must use your professional judgment to know when to reel things back in.
Failure to do so could result in conversations that have no real educational
purpose, and at the worst could cause major disruption. A few years ago there
was a major controversy at the high school I teach regarding a teacher’s
comments denying the nature of the Holocaust. The incident was widely reported
even making national news. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal:
“The discussion went
off on a tangent when a student brought up the Holocaust. The World War II
genocide is estimated to have killed more than 6 million European Jews and
millions of Gypsies, homosexuals and other religious and ethnic minorities.
Students said the teacher disputed much of what is known about the Holocaust.
"It was ridiculous what she was saying," Piranio said. "I was
afraid to challenge her, because she was so into what she was saying."
Piranio said the teacher told students that history textbooks have inaccurate information and Holocaust
photographs were doctored or distorted. She also said the teacher said in class
that some Holocaust photographs were actually taken during an earlier time
period in Russia. After Piranio's father complained to school officials,
the teacher called him to apologize, but only for giving her "opinion" in
class, Katie Piranio said. As a matter of district policy, teachers are not
supposed to speak about subjects outside their expertise. The teacher is a
full-time gym teacher with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from the
University of Washington and a master's degree from Arizona's Grand Canyon
University, according to the school's Web site.”[ii]
I did not know this teacher personally so I
cannot comment on her beliefs or her intentions, but it is fair to say that she
was commenting on a subject that was not related to her curriculum or within
her area of expertise. Clearly this conversation was not appropriate, it
offended a lot of people, and it disrupted the learning environment.
Teachers,
whether we like it or not, are public figures. If you live in proximity to the
school you teach chances are good that you have bumped into your students and
their families. I can’t tell you how many impromptu parent teacher conferences
I have had at Smiths, or standing in line at the movie theater. I understand
that teachers have an expectation of privacy and that what we do outside of
school is our own business, however, my point is that teachers are held to a
higher moral standard than are most other professions because of our work with
children, we have the community’s trust and we must work diligently to keep it.
And while this may seem unfair, let me remind you that teachers were restricted
to a much larger extent at the beginning of the last century as indicated by this
1915 rules for teachers:
1.
You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2.
You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home
between the hours of 8 PM and 6 AM unless at a school function.
4. You may not loiter
downtown in any of the ice cream stores. 5. You may not travel beyond the city
limits unless you have permission of the chairman of the chairman of the school
board. 6. You may not ride in carriages or automobiles with any man except your
father or brother.
7. You may not smoke
cigarettes.
8. You may not dress
in bright colors.
9. You may under no
circumstances dye your hair.
10. You must wear at
least 2 petticoats.
11. Your dresses may
not be any shorter than 2 inches above the ankles.
12. To keep the
classroom neat and clean you must sweep the floor once a day, scrub the floor
with hot soapy water once a week, clean the blackboards once a day and start the
fire at 7 AM to have the school warm by 8 AM when the scholars arrive.”[iii]
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