Long after I taught Grade 12 English at Austin O’Brien High School in Edmonton, Alberta, I received a phone call from a former student, inviting me back to the twentieth reunion of the 1979 graduating class. To my astonishment, the students presented me with an award for “Most Enthusiastic Teacher.” I’m not sure they realized that the root of the word enthusiasm is Latin for “god within,” but I was humbled and deeply honoured by their choice of words in describing me. Knowing that I had positively influenced these young people – and that they still remembered me twenty years after I taught them – is a highlight of my life.
It wasn’t always this way, though. Early in my teaching career, I had serious misgivings. I wondered whether I was cut out to be a classroom teacher. I often felt inadequate. I didn’t know how to respond to students misbehaving in class. I was overwhelmed by the amount of marking and preparation required. Sometimes I couldn’t find time in the day to take a bathroom break.
During those first few painful years, I spent many agonizing afterschool hours reflecting on questions such as: What are my strengths as a teacher? As a person? What gifts do I bring to this vocation? What legacy will I leave? Through this questioning process, alone and with colleagues, I began to develop a vision for my vocation.
What made all the difference and kept me in the classroom for another twenty years was the slow, sure realization that I had a positive influence on the lives of hundreds of young people. My daily personal interactions with the young people in my care could lift their spirits and put a bounce in their steps. I felt a real joy in their various accomplishments, large and small. I was fascinated by their academic achievements, sports victories, and personal triumphs, as well as all the challenges they faced with limited or no success. As my teaching identity emerged, I came to be known as someone who cared enough about my students to demand the very best.
I also became aware of the almost endless possibilities for my own personal and professional growth as a functioning member of a vibrant learning community. Coaching volleyball, leading a singing group, starting a ski team, assisting in musical theatre productions, helping out at the Science Fair … inside and outside the classroom, I was constantly learning from students, parents and colleagues. What they gave me is priceless and lasting. Among other memories, I treasure the laughter, the challenges met, the bonds we forged, and the shared moments of delight – delight in learning, in music, and in other aspects of life inside and outside the school walls.