What Has Transformed You The Most As A Teacher?

What singular experience in your career has transformed you the most as a teacher?

Was it a professional development course? Was it coaching? Was it teaching a certain grade level or class? What experience would you say has influenced your teaching more than any other?

For me, it was an experience with a particular person. More specifically, it was the teacher next door.

Let me tell you a story.

I was three years into teaching and still largely going through all the phases, “the feels”, and frustrations of a novice teacher. It’s no simple task to become a teacher. It’s a steep learning curve we all remember a little too well!

I was just finishing my third year teaching all general education classes when I received a surprise request to teach an Advanced Placement class in the fall. I was very excited about this opportunity, and to wrap my mind around the rigor and expectations of an AP course, I asked to borrow the AP resources of my colleague and good friend. She was a master teacher and had taught the course for years. She was excellent at her craft and had every lesson PowerPoint, handout, and activity ready to go.

I still remember to this day opening her resources for the first time and the ease with which I navigated her online folders. It was an instant masterclass in curriculum and instruction. From spiraling themes to systematic structure to intentionality behind every question and task, I was floored. Her students were learning far more than the content in class. They were transforming as people. They were becoming holistically developed and critically informed citizens of the world.

I could hardly take in enough of her lessons! It was as if I gained more in one sitting from looking at her resources than I did from my entire graduate study. My eyes had been opened to what effective instruction looked, felt, and sounded like, and I could not go back. As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” And wow, was I being challenged to do even better!

It was an exciting time for me. Studying those resources helped me regain enthusiasm for teaching again. Suddenly I felt optimistic and passionate about the possibilities of education and the type of learning that was possible in a classroom.

However, as much as I enjoyed learning from her resources, I also struggled immensely with intimidation and insecurity. I would often think, “How do I follow up with this? Can this even be topped? Has the pinnacle of education now been achieved and there is nothing left to contribute?”

As teachers, we all play the comparison game. We all have that teacher in the back of our minds that is on a pedestal and so often seems miles ahead.

We find ourselves getting stuck in a scarcity mindset. We begin to cultivate the belief that there is a finite number of opportunities, talents, connections, and materials available. And when someone takes a large piece of the pie, there is less for everyone else.

Now, a few years later, I see things clearer and realize how limited my perspective was at the time. With a scarcity mindset, we get trapped in what we don’t have- instead of thinking and seeing what we do have. No matter the resources out there, there are still so many problems, gaps, and inconsistencies yet to be solved. There is still so much ground to break, opportunities to seize, and ways we can be challenged to do better.

So, what talents do you bring to the table? How do you think differently? What challenges are you wrestling with? What are you hoping to solve in the classroom?

Take a moment and tell me in the comments below! I’d love to hear!