. . . continued . . .

4. I’ve learned the importance of being very discreet. Now, I keep in mind that school email is school property and should be pristine and incredibly professional and terse. I keep in mind that school emails have been used (for and against the teacher) in court. About venting: For me, venting about problems was important for helping me to unload. But . . . I finally learned to vent to trusted, discreet family members and friends instead of unloading on fellow teachers. (At www.proteacher.net, there is a forum where teachers can vent constructively.) I discovered that off-handed airing of the school’s dirty laundry can do unexpected harm (it can look bad on the “venter” and can really backfire, and I’ve seen this happen!). True story: One day in the teachers’ lounge a teacher was inadvertently venting about a child to a lady who offered “a listening ear.” This child’s reputation was well-known all over the school. Of course, some teachers chimed in. The only person in the lounge who knew at the time that this lady was the child’s relative was the relative!

5. I’ve had to learn to exercise good people skills and relationship skills. This includes respecting, constructing, maintaining, and enforcing boundaries. I’ve had to answer questions such as, “Where does this student begin and I end? How do I inspire, influence, and guide student behavior without trying to control students? How do I inspire, influence, and guide student behavior while refraining from overriding student responsibility for self-discipline? How many times will I give students extra copies of handouts they lose? Are students responsible for managing their time to submit their work on time? Or instead do I allow students to bypass responsibility and lengthen my workday and work week by allowing 100+ students to submit late work on a rolling basis such that I am never actually really done grading a set? What’s the best way to include margin (for error, for extra time, etc.) in the classroom? Are grades based on student effort or student mastery or a mix of the two? How should students interpret an ‘A’ in my class? How should an outsider (a parent, a college entrance official, etc.) interpret an ‘A’ earned in my class?” And those were just a few of the boundaries-related questions in teaching that I needed to address!

continued . . .