Everyone's got a something they will never sell (Herbs)

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Recently, after finding out I gave up a Principal job to teach him and others English at Hastings Boys', a student said - Eeeehh!!! Sir - why did you do that, to start again at the bottom???

It really was a loud and long EEEHHHHH too.

I guess it does look like that to a student, and from a certain view he's not wrong - I was an English teacher from 1983 to 1989 - the first years of my career. In 1990 I gained a leadership position in an English department and haven't been a full time English teacher for 30 years.  

It could have been a shock being back full time in the classroom but actually it wasn't. It's taken me back to what is vital and important.

I have told many of my former colleagues how much I'm loving the change. I mean it, maan.

As Ryan Holiday says in his book Right Thing, Right Now:

This is a journey that we all must go on too, not just avoiding selfishness and cynicism as we age but making sure we are not hardened by our profession or our circumstances. If time and experience don't make you more generous, less threatened by others and their needs, more openhearted, what kind of life is that? Because it sounds more like a prison, like some kind of curse that an enemy would swear on someone in a tragic play, like the cost of selling your soul.

Last term, I helped a student improve a piece of writing for his writing folio. After he'd finished it, I graded it an Excellence. The honesty of his writing really had a powerful affect on me (the reader).

He will never know how fulfilling that was for me. I never want to lose that feeling.

See me, feel me, touch me, heal me (The Who)

Photo by Maja Erwinsdotter on Unsplash

Brené Brown, in her book The Gift of Imperfection, has this great definition for 'connection':

I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.

There is a lot in there.

I have mentioned before the connection I have felt in some of the staff rooms I've been in. Sadly, it's rare, I've only experienced it twice in my 41-year teaching career, but only for a short time, because in both cases the key leader moved away from the school. 

But, because of that feeling of sustenance and strength I derived from the connection, I recognised it when I saw it, felt it. 

In my experience, it does take that key person, in my case - both males, to cause that connection. Seemingly, it's a rare combination in schools - to come across those leaders with that combination of empathy, vision, purpose, integrity and honesty.

I'm certainly thankful to those two gentlemen from my past.

Smiling in my room, you know you'll be inside of my mind soon (Jefferson Airplane)

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I like this from musician and comedian Tim Minchin on sharing what you know:

"Even if you're not a teacher, be a teacher. Share your ideas. Don't take for granted your education. Rejoice in what you learn and spray it."

(Courtesy of James Clear. The source: 9 Life Lessons)

Basically, that's what this blog is all about - sharing ideas from others and from me. And, even more basically, that's what teachers do with each other - share ideas with each other. It's a crucial collaboration that I've been reminded of this term. 

Huge thanks to the English department at Hastings Boys' High School. My colleagues rock!!