• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

November 14, 2013 Opinion

Education: It's Not About You

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Lori H Rice

Lori Rice is a fourth-grade teacher at West Elementary in Wamego, Kansas, who has taught K-2 reading as well as kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade since 1996. She has a passion for creativity, learning, questioning and the whole child. Her classroom is a place of acceptance and celebrating differences.
  • Bringing Project Based Learning to our Classroom - August 12, 2018
  • Keep the Engagement Alive: Start the Year with Purpose - August 5, 2018
  • It's Our Fault: A Teacher's Confession - March 18, 2018
  • Keeping Your Teaching Real: A Teacher's Role - March 11, 2018
  • Sketch Notes in the Elementary Classroom - February 15, 2017
  • Teach From the Heart - February 9, 2017
  • Who is the Teacher: School or Family? - January 11, 2017
  • Dear President Elect Trump, From Your Teachers - November 17, 2016
  • Let them Be Children - October 21, 2016
  • Print Resources: Great Tools for Kids - October 17, 2016

Sitting around the table at a small Bistro Saturday night I enjoyed much-needed girl time with friends.  Three of us are teachers, all of us are mothers, and nothing is off-limits in the conversation.  We drifted among topics of kids and relationships.  Someone shared a story they had read about marriage.  The idea of the story is marriage is not for you, it is about building a family.  Marriage is not about what you get out of it, it is about what you give back to your spouse.  A healthy relationship is centered on the family, not a single person.  I began thinking.  It's not about you.

Thursday I attended a conference where the keynote speaker, Jeff Charbonneau, shared his vision of the classroom.  When asked what we teach, the quick 30-second answer is a simple grade level or subject level response.  Mr. Charbonneau challenged us to think beyond the quick answer.  If you think about what you teach, it goes so much farther than your subject and grade.  As educators, we teach students to become productive members of society, respect for themselves and others, problem-solving, communication skills, and how to be responsible citizens in our world.  I began thinking.  It's not about you.

Education is  ever-changing and the slant often reflected in the media is not always positive.  We are teaching in environments that are less than ideal.  We are implementing and adapting to a constantly changing curriculum.  We are using standards developed outside of classroom walls.  We are answering to policy makers, government officials, news media, parents, and many others who are not inside the walls of our classrooms.  We are bombarded with more acronyms than can be listed but currently include: CCSS, NGSS,  NCLB, EL, AP, EL, GED, IEP, BOE, USD, ESL, ESY, FAPE, MTSS, RTI, OT, PT, SL/LG, SI to name a few. Being an educator today is nothing less than overwhelming.  But what I see from great educators, what I hear from those in the field doing this hard work successfully, what I know is happening across this nation in classrooms large and small is one thing.  Teachers are focusing their energy and efforts on students.  It's not about you.

Take a moment and think about where your greatest teaching decisions have been based.  Do you think about test scores?  Do you think about unit objectives?  Do you think about something more?  Everything we are doing should be focused towards the future. We as educators must continue to think beyond ourselves and do what is necessary to take education back and do what we know is right.  It goes beyond the requirements and meetings and acronyms.  It's not about you.

Start, if you have not already, focusing on the community you are creating in your classroom.  Set up lessons and activities that allow your students to problem solve, fail, learn, and become self-reliant individuals.  Structure your classroom community so your students can rely on themselves and learn from their mistakes.  Set up opportunities for group work and sharing.  Dream of the community you want your own children, brothers, nieces, grandchildren to be a part of.  Provide that community for your students.

Next, reach out beyond your classroom walls.  When you students have developed a classroom community the next step is beyond.  Invite others into your community.  Set up experiences for your students to learn from experts and share their experiences.  There are many resources today to use in inviting others around the globe to enter your classroom (Skype, Google Hangout, etc.).  Citizenship is about positive interactions with others.  Expand your community.

Citizenship is about positive interactions with others. Click To Tweet

Finally, it’s not about you.  Our job as educators is to help students explore and develop their potential.  We must be constantly looking to the future that does not yet exist and create the community we want to be a part of.  We must put ourselves aside and teach each unique individual in our classrooms where they are, how they are; to encourage and help them down the path to tomorrow.  Imagine the neighbors, neighborhood, community, nation, and the world you would like to see.  Teach that!

It is easy to become overwhelmed and lost in education today.  But there is a reason you started.  That reason was beyond curriculum, standards, policies and acronyms.  That reason was a passion and a love of children.  That reason was a hope for our future.  That reason was the spark of learning.  So, what do you teach? You teach a society that will hope, love, care, give and solve problems in our future.  Teaching is not about what you get out of it, it is about what you give back.  It’s not about you, but it is about everything you do that will ripple through the tomorrows and impact our world.

Education

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNewbies- Implementing a 'To Do' List for New Teachers! Default Thumbnail32 Qualities of Effective Educators Default ThumbnailClassroom Pets = Caring In The Classroom PandemicTeach to the Rest: How the Pandemic Could Be the Best Thing for Education in 20 Years
« Moving Into Young Adulthood - The Development of Our 14-16 Year-Olds
Step Up and Teach- Part 3: ELA Speaking and Listening Standards »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It
  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.