Editor:
We invited Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, to offer some
advice to our students who are preparing to become teachers at the Woodring
College of Education at Western Washington University. We share her advice to all who would be
teachers. Thank you Mandy!
Advice for Teacher
Candidates at Western Washington University
Mandy Manning
2018 National Teacher of
the Year
I’ll never forget my
first day in my own classroom in Spearman, Texas. I was teaching theatre and communications
in a small rural school. Walking into that classroom the first day, I felt
completely unprepared and unqualified. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure how to
follow the teacher’s guide for the communications curriculum.
As soon as I met my students,
though, I knew I’d found my place. On that first day, I looked at my class and
I realized I wasn’t just there to teach communications and theatre. I was there
to teach students, and those students came in all shapes and sizes and
personalities. No matter how lost I felt, I knew I’d do anything to help my
students grow academically and as people.
It took nearly half of
my career—10 of my 19-years in the classroom—to realize that I did know what I
was doing from that very first day.
I don’t want you to have
to wait that long, so here is my advice for being the best teacher you can be:
1.
Get
to know your students.
Don’t just know them as learners, but know them as individual human beings.
Find out what interests them, what they do outside of school, and learn about
their home lives. It is only through knowledge of students that you will know
how to teach them. Not only will you be able to tailor your lessons to the
needs of your students, but your students will also know you care about them.
Veteran educator Rita Pierson tells us in her TED Talk, “Kids don’t learn from
people they don’t like.” You must show students you care about them in order
for them to care about what you are teaching them. Moreover, use that knowledge
of students to always do what’s best for them in your instruction, even when
that means being a bit rebellious and adjusting the prescribed curriculum to
meet the needs of the students in your classroom.
Also, give your students the chance to get to know their peers
and connect with one another. This will help to build community in your
classroom and create a safe learning environment where all students feel
valued.
2.
Open
your doors. We have a tendency to
get comfortable in our classrooms, because we know we can control that environment
and that we have an impact there, student-by-student. It’s our space. But, our
impact shouldn’t stay only within our classroom walls. Our impact can stretch
so much further if we open our doors and invite others in—community members,
parents, school board members, district leaders, legislators and fellow
teachers. We must also seek opportunities to observe other educators and
educational environments. As educators we have much to teach our students, our
colleagues, and our communities. On the flip side, we have just as much to
learn and we must seek that knowledge through our colleagues and through
experiences that challenge our perceptions.
3.
Join
professional education associations, locally, statewide, and nationally. Not only have education associations
provided me with some of the very best professional development, they also have
helped me find my tribe - the group of people with whom I connect and can lean
on for support throughout my career.
Education associations strive to recognize teachers as the
professionals we are and give us the space to share our ideas and our
perspectives. Our voice matters in the association. Most importantly, a single
voice does not always bring the changes we need to see in our classrooms,
schools, districts or states. Oftentimes it takes a collective voice. Education
associations are that collective voice to amplify our ideas to impact policies
that in turn impact our classrooms.
As you look out at your
classroom of students on your first day, you will see the hope and potential on
each of their faces. This is your purpose and your impact as a teacher: to help
students see their own potential, to provide them tools and skills to meet that
potential, and to guide them in creating a plan to achieve their dreams. No matter
what anxiety you might be feeling that first day, remember it is our honor and
our privilege as educators to shape the future, one student at a time.
