This book’s advice on how to maintain a positive outlook about working in education is both timely and timeless. It’s timely because the research clearly shows that teachers feel overwhelmed by the broadening set of expectations being placed on their shoulders. And it’s timeless because policymakers or the wider public cannot quickly reverse a trend so characteristic of 21st century teaching.
According to journalist Dylan Matthews (2018), policymakers, think-tank researchers, and billionaires have the habit of viewing classrooms as laboratories for social and economic innovation. In brief, many of these well-intentioned educational advocates and entrepreneurs have their hearts in the right place. But their focus is squarely on the outputs of the education system. Everyday teachers, on the other hand, must confront the harsh reality that social, economic, and familial inputs have monumentally changed the way we go about educating students. Outsiders to the teaching profession want schools to transform society, but the reality is that society has transformed schools.
Approaching the Book’s Structure
This book is designed to be actionable and convenient. Its structure centers on the five concentric circles of pivotal teacher relationships (see figure I.1 page 5), with each part of the book focusing on one key relationship. The content throughout is intended to inform—and drive the behavior of—educators of all kinds, but the language and prompts are naturally geared toward classroom teachers, who are involved in all the relationships represented by the concentric circles. Many teachers will find all five parts relatable; however, some parts or chapters might not apply to every teacher. Therefore, readers may use each part independently from the others. For example, if teachers want to learn about self-care, they can refer to part 1 and don’t necessarily need to read about combating the tensions that erupt between teachers and administrators in part 4. On that note, because administrators are key players in the relationships that part 4 covers in depth, this part is unique in that some recommendations are written with them in mind and directed at them specifically—so administrators will not want to skip it.
Each of the five parts is divided into two chapters. The first chapter in each part will answer the question, Why is there tension in this relationship? I will describe the nature of the problem teachers are encountering, demonstrate the problem’s impact on teacher relationships, and explain why it is important to address. Each of these chapters includes multiple Notice the Wave prompts that invite the reader to pause for a moment and consider a particular issue in light of the information that I’ve presented.
While the first chapter of each part might seem overwhelming, with its enumeration and discussion of challenges, negative statistics, and various hurdles, readers should continue on, as the second chapter of each part will uplift, inspire, and comfort. That is, the second chapter is devoted to finding practical solutions to the problems that I’ve outlined; it offers detailed, research-based suggestions that can improve classroom teachers’ chances of thriving amid change and finding or rediscovering meaning and purpose in their careers. This is where the book will lay out actionable guidelines for teachers, and each strategy will feature a Ride the Wave prompt that asks readers to tangibly articulate and record their thoughts and plans for the next steps through checklists, tables, graphic organizers, and written responses.
Note that strategies and Ride the Wave action pieces are designed to be intensely practical to those who are actively using this text to help address the problems associated with constant change. However, while each strategy or Ride the Wave is intended to facilitate practical assistance, it is not necessary for readers to engage each prompt in order to maximize the utility of the overall text. Teachers are free as classroom practitioners to pinpoint which problems, strategies, and action pieces are relevant to their specific troubles. In other words, each piece serves a purpose independently of the others. While I believe in the efficacy of the designed activities, they are not collectively more useful than when done on a one-by-one basis.
Finally, each chapter in the book will have a brief summary section that, for each why chapter, sums up the challenges or, for each how chapter, reminds us just what we can achieve now that we’re armed with this knowledge and versed in the personal and collaborative fixes.
Recapturing the Magic
This book is a labor of love written by a teacher in the middle of his career. Twenty years in the classroom affords a unique perspective as it situates a teacher in a position as neither a novice nor a veteran on the cusp of retirement. On one hand, the beginning of my teaching career feels like forever ago. When I walked into my very first class, Bill Clinton was president, the 9/11 attacks were still three years from occurring, and Facebook and the iPhone did not exist. On the other hand, retirement and the wonders of a life free from the school calendar’s constraints still feel so far out of reach that there is little use in trying to imagine them.
The good news is the mature perspective that comes from having taught for two decades means I have enough wonderful classroom memories to know that high-sounding phenomena—splendor, enchantment, enthrallment—are not just the province of movies and musicals. You don’t have to visit Hollywood or Broadway to know these phenomena are real. They can, and should, make an appearance in the classroom. Sometimes, in the turbulence of change and disruption, the magic seems to vanish. This book is an attempt—albeit a modest one—to help teachers find this magic and to put it back where it belongs: in the classroom.
PART 1
the self
It’s never overreacting to ask for what you want and need.
—AMY POEHLER
It’s the stuff of an overwrought Hollywood screenplay.
A young man on the cusp of graduating from college has no idea what he wants to do with his life. On Thanksgiving break of his senior year, his elder sister unexpectedly passes away of congestive heart failure. He returns to school to take his final exams emotionally broken, empty, and at a loss. As he walks home by himself from class one afternoon, it hits him as hard as any idea has ever hit him in his entire life. He stops walking. He looks up at the broken clouds that have small sunrays poking through them. Suddenly, time folds in on itself, and he knows—truly, soulfully knows—what he wants to do with his life.
I used to tell this story—my story—to my students to let them know that I consider my job to be a calling, not a simple profession. “You know what happiness is?” I used to ask them. “It’s knowing you are exactly where you are supposed to be in this life. It’s the absence of daydreaming about being somewhere else and about doing something else.”
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