“A couple years ago, I was asked by students if I’d go into teaching if I had it to do over again. I said I didn’t know.
Now I say that I would still go into teaching but I would want to know I was armed to the teeth—ready, though no classes can prepare you for the work of teaching What you need is mental fortitude, emotional/psychological fortitude, spiritual purpose. You need to be resilient. We need soldiers, people ready to strap in and get ready for a crazy ride.” Gerardo Munoz, veteran (and still young) teacher and teacher leader
I know there are many of us who have recoiled at the use of war language such as Gerardo used here. I once recoiled but now that the struggle has become so dire, I suspect that a warrior metaphor provides determination and inspiration we need to keep going. One essential aspect of warrior nature is often the band that sticks together through everything.
Every day, I wonder: How do we ensure that new teachers enter the field with sufficient dispositional strengths? How do we help teachers in the field sustain or acquire these strengths?
Gerardo’s current thinking is that one key is to establish really strong connections with each other.
He says we have to ‘set aside whatever annoyances come up for me and remember my colleague is a human being and we establish human connection with human beings.’
Establish bonds with people, not just bitch sessions
Use words like solidarity
When its game time the only people you have in the world are your brothers and sisters in the field.
Become invested with each other so my success is connected with your success.
One step he has taken as a teacher leader is facilitating a group of teachers using protocols to look at their students’ work, at data from their classrooms, at their practice. From these conversations, teachers come to know each other’s work, each other’s knowledge and perspectives become invested in each other’s learning and teaching.
Try the experiment of communicating, with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it be somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude toward your experience changing. John Dewey