Not long ago, I read a study by Campbell (1990-91) that gave me some food for thought. He found that expert teachers sustain themselves by remaining positive no matter how inadequate their work environment may be. It occurred to me that we could all adopt the personal norms of Campbell’s interviewees and make them into our personal mission statements to help us find our own greatness. Based on Campbell’s findings here’s the thinking I believe will see us through:
Hold onto a sense of mission. It brought us to teaching. It is what makes teaching the best profession on the planet. We need to seek out and interact with people who nurture our sense of mission. Avoid those who pour out cynicism and undermine our belief in our students’ potential or our own talents.
Whenever we reach a goal or master a skill, choose another. Our goal is to improve continuously, and, if possible, dramatically. This continuous learning loop keeps teaching fresh, exciting and challenging. Let’s not miss the fun.
Pay attention to both intellectual and emotional growth—not only in students, but also ourselves. Fear and grief, anxiety and disgust may visit us at any age and they will interfere with our forward motion if they are not dealt with. Recognizing the issues, whether in ourselves or our students, comes first. Then we can seek solutions and appropriate assistance.
Notice and build on our own power to get results. Put another way, notice base hits and home runs and forgive those strike outs. Results that lead to student achievement are the ultimate goal of all of our work. As we make progress toward our goals, our growing efficacy becomes self-rewarding and propels us even further.
Build a personal peer support system and use it. We can never find all our blind spots alone, nor will we ever have all the answers. We can’t even formulate all the questions in solitude. We are community-oriented creatures. Let’s work at creating a supportive climate at every level—home, school, and community.
Maintain professional autonomy. We aren’t robots designed merely to improve test scores–never will be. We are trained professionals who make reasoned decisions and carry them out vigorously. Conquer fear and do the right thing.
Ignore impediments to good teaching—they will never disappear. Focus energy on those things that will make the most difference for us students and our students. Make work a stepping stone not a stumbling block.
Every new experience teaches us more, even the experiences that seem awful at the time. We can adjust our thinking like the teachers in Campbell’s study did and plow forward with determination to do the good work we know we are capable of. Let’s do it.
Campbell, K.P. (1990-91, Winter) Personal norms of experienced expert suburban high school teachers: Implications for selecting and retaining outstanding individuals. Action in Teacher Education, 12, 35-40.
