The Classroom

While talking to my student teacher about how to increase student by-in I made reference to the movie Dangerous Minds.  I’ve always loved how this movie is based on a true story, and how the original book is entitled “My Posse Don’t Do Homework”.  I’ve always thought of my class in that manner… My posse, my crew, my team.  Well having never actually READ the book, I decided to log on to my friendly internet book store and order it.  Sadly its no longer in print, but Louanne Johnson (the author) has written more books, her most recent being “Teaching Outside the box: how to grab your students by the brains”.

On the site I was able to read the first few pages of the book… and while I agree with some of it, others bothered me.  She ranks teachers into 3 groups – Super, Excellent, and Good.  Super teachers devote their lives to their job, and while this is possible with a family Johnson admits is extremely difficult, and that super teachers tend to burn out quickly.  Excellent teachers and a bit more balance between life and school, though they are still very committed and do a lot of extra curricular and emotional investments in their classroom.  Good teachers are more 9-5ers (or 8-4 to be more precise), though they still want the best for their students and are very capable and competent educators, their main emphasis in on their personal lives, not necessarily the classroom.

I’m not sure I like these divisions… however I do seem them every day.  But not all super teachers are “good” teachers.  They may be some of the best for a short time, but quickly burn out, and take out many students on the way down.  However in this little bit of the book it almost seems as if Johnson is glorifying this style of teaching.  While I totally understand the need to get personally invested in your students in order to establish personal relationships, a master teacher knows where the limits are.  It’s a fine line, hard to see until you trip over it – but if you can balance on it’s edge the classroom experience it truly amazing.

So I’d like to add to our continuing definition of what makes a good teacher, balance.  They have healthy class and home lives.  They can balance the roles of being “friend” and “teacher”.  They can also keep the balance of the room by raising spirits when it’s needed, or calming moods when things get out of hand.  The more I think about it the more I feel balance would be one of the top 5 traits of a master teacher….