Questionnaire

The following is in response to a questionnaire that I recently completed. Hope it is helpful-

Patrick Fariss
Coppell, TX

Questions:

* What and where do you teach?
Pre-AP Algebra I and Pre-AP Geometry
Coppell, TX

* How long have you been teaching?
6 Years

* What inspired you to teach?
As a college student-athlete my lifelong goal had been to be a teacher and a coach. After spending time teaching and coaching, I realized my true passion was in the classroom. Interacting with students and making a difference in the lives of my students has been a motivating factor in career choice. Also, having had a number of differnence-making teachers in my education past helped me to understand the impact a teacher can have.

* What classroom methods are most helpful in pushing students towards
their goals?
Engaging students and developing relationships have been most important in helping students reach their goals. When students know that you care about them and have their best interest at heart, they strive to do their best. By engaging students with creative lessons and technology, our classroom is an exciting place where learning occurs and students excel.

* What is the one thing you wish you'd known when you started in the
classroom? (i.e. advice for new teachers).
The advice that I wish I had received is to work to build relationships with students and parents from day 1. When parents and students know that you have their sons and daughters best interest in mind, they may not always agree, but they will support you and appreciate your efforts.

* If you have a masters in education:
o What did your training teach you that was most helpful in
preparing you to enjoy and thrive in a classroom today?
I was fortunate during my graduate classes to learn how to design engaging lessons and to talk with other teachers as to best practices in education. My graduate classes were starting to incorporate technolgy, but as technology evolves, it is vital that we embrace the technology that our digitally-native students see on a daily basis.

10,000 Hours

Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers discusses the 10,000 hour rule. In a nutshell, those individuals that succeed (Bill Gates, The Beatles, et. al) do so because they have invested the magic number of 10,000 hours to hone their abilities. As we look at this hypothesis, the question is, "does this apply to teachers and educators?" I believe the answer is YES!

By my calculations, on a 187-day contract, working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the minimum that a teacher would work during the year would be about 1500 hours. If we divide 10,000 by 1500, it works out to somewhere around 6 years, give or take a year depending on weekends and summers. In a profession where close to 50% of teachers are no longer teaching after 5 years, we are losing highly trained and skilled workers right about the time they become 'professionals'.

It takes at least a year to understand the in's and out's of teaching, and learn the ropes. Knowing that it takes 10,000 hours to stand out in one's profession will give us staying power and the determination needed to persevere.

The Parent is Always Right?

The following came from Seth Godin's blog...

Win the fight, lose the customer
Does it really matter if you're right?
Given the choice between acknowledging that your customer is upset or proving to her that she is wrong, which will you choose?
You can be right or you can have empathy
If someone thinks they're unhappy, then you know what? They are.

While Seth's blog mainly deals with business, he makes some great points that deal with human nature, and teacher's can gain much insight and wisdom from. I have worked with some difficult parents, and to this day there are some that despise me. I realize we cannot choose the parents or our students as businesses can sometimes decide upon their customers, but if we want to make a difference and build relationships with parents, then at least at the very beginning, the parents have to always be right.

Not an easy pill to swallow-

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/teaching/7412162

3 days and counting

3 days and counting until summer break is over for teachers and we report back to school. For me, it has been an eventful and fruitful summer. From the birth of our daughter, to self-publishing a project designed to help teachers, being an educator has enormous benefits!

As we kick off a new school year, it is important for me to set new goals for this school year, and assess the progress I have made over the past year. I believe that taking time to reflect is too often neglected, and we don't pause to consider or reflect on the experiences that shape us. Some lessons that I have learned over the past year:

1) Teaching a 6:45 a.m. class is possible and fulfilling, but requires enormous discipline, especially when training for a marathon and private tutoring. Find a routine and create a new habit.

2) You can have everything you want, if you just help enough other people get what they want (Zig Ziglar). This is true in teaching, tutoring, or any other profession. If you provide exceptional service, your influence will spread.

3) I am blessed to be part of a great group of teachers and administrators. These people are selfless and generous. They are leaders and passionate about what they do. Not all schools have such a sense of community, but I am blessed to be a part of this group.

These are just a few of the lessons that I have learned/been reinforced over the past 12 months. There will be challenges and victories over the coming weeks, and my goal is to continue to provide insight and wisdom about not only how to survive, but to come out on top.

Tribes and Teaching

I highly recommend Seth Godin's new book Tribes. It is a paradigm shift from the traditional thoughts on leadership. My question is how do we as teachers implement and develop our "tribe" as we move through the school year.

Leadership is not management. We try to manage our class and our students, but in doing this we are not effectively leading our students. Our administration may be impressed with the lack of students we send to the office, but are we training our students to think. If we are not being criticized then maybe we aren't taking the chances that we should.

The best way to grow used to involve reliability and consistency, while the enemy was change. While these values are important, change is coming, and we can either lead or be left behind. The Internet is a resource we must learn to use and embrace as we develop ourselves and our students.

We are really talking about a mindset. The status quo is not good enough. Taking initiative is fulfilling and rewarding. We can react or respond, but to be happy and achieve results, we must be proactive and take initiative. We need to be willing to take a chance. We will face blame and criticism, and that is the true fear that we face.

So amidst my rambles and thoughts, my question is this:

How do we as teachers develop our tribe and the tribe mentality with ourselves, our students, and our administration?

Comments welcome-

Why Teacher's Appreciate Summer

#3) My email inbox can stay empty and free of new messages. We live in a connected society, which is a double-edge sword. It is easy to communicate, but the downside is that sometimes, some individuals want instantaneous responses. It is nice to see zero new messages during the summer!

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/teaching/7412162

Just finished publishing my first work. More details to come!

You Don't Have To Be Great To Start...

...But you have to start to be great -- John Maxwell. This is one of my favorite quotes, and is on the bulletin board in my classroom. As I undertake this new project, there are many unknowns, but in the words of Zig Ziglar, "Anything worth doing is worth doing WRONG, until you learn how to do it RIGHT."

This is a project that has been in the works for the past 3 years. Right now there are many individuals considering teaching as a profession, and a worth profession it is. There are challenges and rewards, and there are many things that I never learned in all of my formal education.

My goal in putting this together is to help people at different places:

(1) If you are considering a career in education --what to expect, challenges and rewards, and common misconceptions.

(2) If you are a new teacher about to begin your first teaching job -- what they never taught us in our education programs.

(3) If you are a current teacher how to move from survival to stability, and eventually from stability to significance -- finding balance and staying power as a teacher.

If you fall into one of these three groups, this is the place for you! I will do my best to provide insight and wisdom from my time in the classroom.

The summer time is a great opportunity for teachers to recharge their batteries and find balance in their lives. It is also a great time for new teachers to prepare for the upcoming year.

Welcome Aboard!