TeacherVision sits down with veteran teacher and author Stephanie Jankowski to discuss Stephanie's book Schooled: A Love Letter to the Exhausting, Infuriating, Occasionally Excruciating Yet Somehow Completely Wonderful Profession of Teaching.
When you look at the cover of Stephanie Jankowski’s collection of short essays about teaching, Schooled: A Love Letter to the Exhausting, Infuriating, Occasionally Excruciating Yet Somehow Completely Wonderful Profession of Teaching, you see a teacher seated at a desk. She is sitting still, her back straight, her facial expression calm. In contrast, on the messy desk there is a spilled cup of coffee that has been reheated eight times, a copy machine that hates her, a box of confiscated cell phones, and a stack of 891 papers to grade. In other words - chaos!
Jankowski was very deliberate with her publisher that the cover had to reflect the reality of a teacher’s experience, which she defines as controlled chaos. The teacher is calm and confident despite the unpredictable and ever-shifting environment around her.
My conversation with Stephanie was much like the cover of her book. We jumped from topic to topic, built on each others’ ideas, and shared from our experience as English teachers. However, we always came back to the same central thread:
Teaching is messy. No day is the same. No year is the same. At the end of the day, it is our relationships with our students that matters most. A sense of humor doesn’t hurt either!
If you are looking for a candid look at what teaching is really like, Schooled is it. I had a chance to chat with Stephanie about her book, teaching, and the advice she has for new and overworked teachers, which I share below.
Why did you write this book?
[Stephanie Jankowski] There were so many things about teaching that no one told me about. College was nice and tidy. I thought I had to be a walking and talking textbook that had all the answers. When I first started teaching, I realized how wrong I was. I wrote the book because I wanted to be frank and honest about teaching, and all the things that no one told me about.
What was the most powerful lesson learned when you started teaching?
Students’ basic needs need to be met before we can educate them. It is imperative to meet them on their level. We need to get to know the community they live in. I had a principal who took us on a van ride where we visited our students’ neighborhoods. We saw what their lives were like outside of school before we welcomed them into our classrooms.
What advice would you give new teachers who are nervous about their first teaching assignments?
When you get that first teaching assignment, pay attention to the kids. Listen and observe. What are they talking about? What music are they listening to? The students will see that you are listening and that you care. If your lesson plan is to teach adjectives and adverbs, but your students aren’t engaged, you need to take a step back.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when you talk about how you changed your lesson plans. Instead of Parts of Speech Fun: Adjectives vs. Adverbs, you revised your lesson plan to be: "Get them excited about learning." Instead of Figurative Language: Similes & Metaphors, Oh My!, the lesson became: "Show them they are capable." What would you say to teachers who aren’t comfortable changing their plans?
I believe that a truly effective educator gives up control. Teaching is vulnerable. Changing your plans is ok. In fact, it shows that you are paying attention to your students. When we pay attention to our students, they know that we truly care.
What advice do you have for teachers who are exhausted and overworked?
Maximize every second of the school day. If the goal is to not take work home, then eat lunch in your classroom and get prepared during your prep. If you have too many papers to grade, provide a rubric and give students the opportunity to peer edit. Collaborate with colleagues. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to do it all.
Read a free chapter from Schooled here, and if you’re hooked, you can purchase the book on Amazon. To learn more about Stephanie, check out her blog When Crazy Meets Exhausted. You can also follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Want more advice from veteran teachers like Stephanie? You can find it all here.
