Right, Now moving on smartly!
Here are somethings that worked for me & who knows? They might work for you also.
Faces / Masks
Now I am sure that you are thinking “What is the Old Duffer going on about this time?”
As a Teacher or Leader for that matter. Since I most firmly believe that all good teachers have to have Leadership Traits or habits.
One must learn to have a mask to hide behind. By this I mean the following. That you have to develop a sort of Poker Face when you are in the presence of Students & others.
Where you seem calm and collected even though you are on the verge of blind panic & or rage.
Because of the really dumb things / outrages that one of your so called students have just committed.
“Why did you just crucify the Class Hamster? Uh huh! Okay go to the office and we shall talk about this later. All right class let’s get to work!”
This was one of the hardest things that I had to learn. But if you do not learn it. The kids will run roughshod all over you!
Now I mean the following in the nicest way possible.
But for a lot of our students. They are savages that have no clue on how to behave in civilisation. So it is up to the teachers to show them the way. By our actions, behaviors and examples.
And if you think that they are not watching you very closely. Then brothers & sisters are you in for a surprise! As they note all your mannerisms, habits, dress, deportment, views, opinions and prejudices.
Plus if you lose your composure / cool, then you have lost face & the respect of your kids. And there a lot of kids & “adults” who just live for that by the way.
So do not kid yourself ! Especially since there is no such thing as privacy or secrets at school. By the by. The biggest bunch of gossips by the way are your fellow teachers.
This is why I avoided the Teachers lounge like the plague when I was still in the game.
That and teachers are some of the most depressing folks to be around at times. Plus some of them are the biggest booze hounds outside of the service.
Also now that we live in the age of the Cell Phone. One has to conduct themselves knowing that that they are under constant surveillance. Which will never go away either!
So try and remember that and conduct yourself accordly. Like from the minute you step out of your home and until you get back to it from work.
As Big Brother is alive & well out there.
God am I ever glad that I am retired!