Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms pdfdrive com
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8 Teach Like Finland 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms ( PDFDrive )
Have a thicker skin
During my two years of teaching in Helsinki, I was grateful to have a terrific mentor teacher, who always seemed willing to meet with me—even when it was unexpected. Once, we had a parent–teacher night early in the fall, and I was swarmed by parents in the hallway. My mentor teacher stood by, watching silently until the last parent waved goodbye. Then she opened her mouth, and her words caught me by surprise: she wondered, aloud, if I was too accommodating with parents. Initially I was a little defensive. I had always prided myself on communicating well with parents, and I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong that evening. I can’t recall exactly what I had said in those hallway conversations, but my mentor suggested that I seemed too eager to please. My Finnish colleague explained that, in some conversations with parents, she would communicate the following message: you’re the expert at home, and I’m the expert at school. My colleague told me that since I was a professional, I should start seeing myself that way. I should have a thicker skin, she suggested. Like Kevlar. My mentor’s boldness surprised me. Before this interaction, I had talked with many teachers about the occasional challenges of working with parents, but I’d never seen such mental toughness on display. In my previous conversations with American teachers, I sensed that the “difficult” parents intimidated them. (Historically, I’ve felt this way, too.) Two of the most popular methods for pacifying these parents seemed to be either flat-out accommodation or running and hiding. That evening I began to grasp the importance of having a tough skin. Sometimes interactions with parents, students, and colleagues can be Sometimes interactions with parents, students, and colleagues can be challenging, and it can be tempting to get discouraged, but that place of discouragement is where our happiness can quickly disappear. As teachers, we need to develop resilience to keep our classrooms joyful. To be clear, having a tough skin is different from being obstinate. My mentor wasn’t suggesting that I ignore the feedback of others but, instead, that I be confident in my expertise as a teacher. I was a professional, and I should carry myself in that way. Much has been written about the importance to raising resilient (or “gritty”) students, but I haven’t seen too much literature on the importance of developing resilient teachers. Some of the most joyful teachers I know are some of the toughest—their confidence seems rooted in something beyond their performance. When these educators make mistakes, they bounce back quickly. In Finland, many of my colleagues impressed me with how they’d deal with conflicts—with parents, fellow teachers, and even students. As teachers, it’s not a matter of if we’ll face issues in the workplace; it’s a matter of when. Having a tough skin is something that helps protect the joy of teaching. The Finnish word sisu might be celebrated more than any other word in this tiny Nordic country. It’s a human attribute—usually attached to the people of Finland—that can be translated as “guts” or “bravery in the face of adversity.” It’s that same attitude of sisu I saw reflected in my mentor’s words: you’re a professional! In Helsinki, I found myself developing more sisu. Being the new guy at a new school in a foreign land didn’t exactly make me immune to sharp feedback —I received my fair share. Often that feedback, though, prompted me to make useful changes to my work. But there were other instances in which I heard tough feedback, disagreed with it, and didn’t make accommodations. That surely upset some people, but in the end I felt like I could handle the pushback. I was a professional, and I was seeking to do my best as a teacher. Having that thick skin helped me to keep my classroom joyful. Specifically, having a tough skin means taking a deep breath when you receive a long, barbed e-mail from an upset parent and leaving it alone until you feel ready to address it. It means, too, not getting crushed when your principal publicly praises one of your colleagues but then doesn’t recognize your similarly solid work. Also, it means not taking it personally when one of your students curses you to your face. One of the practices I’ve adopted as a teacher, when I’m feeling especially overwhelmed by professional challenges, is setting aside time before I crawl into bed to journal about that day’s concerns. Generally speaking, I don’t sleep very well until I’ve identified these underlying issues and put them into perspective. I’ve noticed that often the words I’ve heard during that school day—from I’ve noticed that often the words I’ve heard during that school day—from parents, colleagues, and students—can be the things that seem to gnaw at me the most. I’m not a regular journal keeper, but I’ve found that the simple act of sitting down to name those sources of anxiety can alleviate much of my stress. I’ll sleep so much better, too. Typically, I set up my journal in a very simple way by drawing a line down the middle of the page to create two columns. On one side I write “anxieties” and on the other side I write “realities.” Then I’ll spend the next few minutes recalling and jotting down as many things that bothered me about that school day under the anxieties column. Once I’m finished, I’ll move onto the realities column, writing down a sentence or so to correspond with each anxiety. This second column helps me to not blow that day’s frustrations out of proportion. The idea is that I can see those anxieties for what they are, as objectively as possible. When I write a sentence of reality, I try to think positively about the frustration in the first column. I might even suggest an action I can take the next day at school. 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