According to Roseanne Liesveld and Jo Ann Miller, authors of the book Teach with your Strengths, "...great teachers have something that less effective teachers don't have--innate talent for the job." I have had the pleasure working with some of the most talented, most patient (and might I add most underpaid) people on the planet. These folks can get children to do anything--walk up and down a flight of steps carrying a bag loaded with weights (to illustrate a point in a novel), recite a speech in front of the most difficult audience in the world--a crowd of school-aged children, and or even don a ridiculous costume of a character in a story--all in the name of educating our young people!
Now, with that said--and this will sadden those people pulling for me to come on over to the elementary school camp--I do believe, with all my heart, that there are people uniquely designed to teach certain things. For example, people who faint at the sight of the quadratic equation should probably not obtain a math degree. Or if you don't really like kids, maybe don't go into education...I'm just saying. I think that as much I love children of all ages, I do not ever need to teach elementary school. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy working in my role a mentor in an elementary setting (which I know I would never have even thought of saying out loud a year ago). In fact, I wouldn't mind even moving over to this role permanently.
Okay back to teachers. I won't say where I heard this, but there are some high school teachers, who after finding academic deficiencies in their students, have been known to say something like, "What are they doing over there at the middle school?" And I have, on occasion, heard (and this might sound crazy) middle school teachers say, "They aren't teaching them anything at the elementary school!"
Well after being exposed to all three, first with eighteen years as a classroom teacher, and now as a mentor, I can safely say that there are good teachers at all three levels. We can breathe now...
When I listen to the media or many of our politians, teachers get a bad rap? rep? Okay maybe both. They make it sound as if all we do is come to work and collect a pay check. HA! I wish one of those knowledgable people could follow a teacher for a day--even half a day. They would problably be lobbying not only for higher salaries for educators, but also for some sort of congressional honor given in Washington on some televised event (like the Kennedy Center Honors)!
Good teachers are everywhere. They are in high schools, teaching everything from writing flawless essays to calculus; in middle school, teaching algebra and geography and social skills. And they are in elementary schools, teaching children how to wash their hands correctly and tie their shoelaces in double knots; teaching them how to spell hard words and know their times tables by heart. They come early. They stay late. They do what they need to do because they love children and they would give nothing less than their very best.
