I’ve recently joined Instagram, and my feed is filled with Inspirational Quotes about teaching, like the ones above. And I am trying to decide how I feel about them…
They remind me of so many professional development sessions I attended as a teacher, where we were asked to choose a quote, or an image, and then explain how and why it speaks to us about being a teacher. I think it was meant to be motivating, but I’m not sure it worked that way for me most of the time.
I’m feeling a bit out of sorts these days, so I think I’d like to try to interrupt the Game of Inspirational Quotes a bit. If you are willing to play along with me, chose one of the quotes I’ve put up here, or maybe you have one in your own classroom already. Take a minute to think about what the quote says to you about what good teachers do, or good teaching looks like.
Think about these questions (you might even want to write your answers down in a Reflective Journal of some sort, but I’m not fussy):
- How does it make you feel?
- Why did you choose this particular quote?
- What sort of expectations are you setting for yourself when you choose that quote?
- What sort of expectations do students and parents who see this quote have of teachers?
- What do you think the public imagines good teaching looks like when they read these quotes?
- How well do you think your actual teaching aligns with the quote? Why do you think that is?
Great, that’s it for today. One of the goals of this blog is to critically examine my own understanding of the question what do good teachers do, so I am going to be coming back to these questions a lot. I’d be happy if you joined me. Please feel free to leave a reply.
Kirsten
