Challenges in Teaching – Steven

Challenges for the 2013 school year

I always tell students that finding a good job means understanding themselves well enough to know what they need to be happy. If they like consistency, working alone, and detailed puzzles, then being an accountant might suit them very well. On the other hand, if they like interacting with young people, enjoy helping others to learn, and can deal with change – they might want to consider being a teacher. Since, at the very least students change somewhat every year. Beyond that, the teaching context can change, textbooks change, approaches change, group dynamics change, school policies change, and I change.

So, therein lies my own challenge – to try to accept all those ongoing changes while always trying to make the coming year my best year yet.

In the spirit of looking at one teacher’s life, here are 6 challenges that I’m thinking about right now and will have to begin addressing head on from April 1^st:

1. A new job – I’m staying in the same department at my university, but I have taken on a new coordinator role with three new veteran teachers coming in fresh this year. My initial impressions are great, and I’m psyched to pass on what I can as well as learn from them. I need to always keep one eye on the big picture, while dealing with problems and situations that arise naturally every day. It’s not as much what I do, but how I do it that counts

2. A new team – It sure takes a lot of time being a coordinator. I have pledged to try to make my new colleagues entry into our department as smooth and as painless as possible. However, there is simply too much information to learn for anyone to be able to take a significant shortcut and completely avoid stress and mistakes. I keep telling myself that it all simply takes time, and that people always come first.

3. Balancing it all at work – Beyond coordinating, I have a full schedule including two new courses: an Extensive Reading Course, and a new Seminar Course with 3^rd and 4^th year students focusing on “Exploring Leadership”. I have to make sure to say “No” when I have to get looming work done. My old job was 80% teaching, and 20% getting things published. This new job is 33% teaching, 33% administration, and 33% getting things published.

4. Making time for family – My son and I noticed that we don’t see much of each other recently. He’s 11 and studying hard at juku (night school). So we have talked about making time to do some new hobbies together. First, we built a model plane together and both hated it. Next we’re trying stargazing with this great iPhone app called SkyView. My daughter wants to do things together on the weekends, like bicycle rides, gardening and baking. It’s an ongoing challenge for teachers who have young kids…

5. Improving on last year – Since I began teaching, I’ve always made 2 pacts with myself, saying firstly, “It’s OK if the lesson, the idea, the project, or an interaction with a student does not turn out perfectly, as long as I think about how to make it better the next time” and secondly, “When I stop worrying about always improving my teaching, then it is time to quit teaching and go look for a new challenge.

6. My Achilles heels – We all have our natural strengths and weaknesses as teachers. Of course, I try to focus on my strengths and avoid letting my weaknesses cause problems for my students or me. However, it is a constant challenge for me to NOT start too many new ideas; to challenge the upper level students as much as I naturally support the lower level students; to spend as much time as necessary to form an overall plan and spend even more time paying attention to the details that changes good work into excellent work. And finally, to find the elusive balance in life that when in sync makes teaching the most rewarding vocation in the world.

What are some of your challenges as a teacher?