Blogs We hope you enjoy this dose of teacher inspiration from one of our amazing on-site instructors from Omaha, Nebraska!
I’m a veterookie.
I guess at first sight the term looks like the fusion of the words “veterinarian” and “cookie”….which makes absolutely no sense and would definitely NOT be a big seller behind the glass at the Cookie Store in the mall. In this case, however, it describes my current role as a teacher and what I strive to be each day: a veteran teacher who still feels (and acts) like a rookie.
Like every teacher in the world, I am completely aware of my current number. Ask any educator you meet how many years they have taught and they’ll know, without a doubt what their number is. My number is 22. This double digit representation of my career validates my status as a “veteran” teacher….but I don’t necessarily feel like one. You know veteran teachers, right? They spend a lot of time talking about how things used to be and how “new strategies” were actually around 10 years ago (and they didn’t work, by the way!). They know the exact time when parent-teacher conferences are over, the approximate time it takes to heat a microwavable meal, and they lament about the wasted time spent on ice-breakers during district-wide professional development sessions. Veteran teachers never forget to check the “freebie” table in the teacher’s lounge and they become increasingly familiar with another number: How many years they have “to go.”
Every teacher who stays with this profession long enough will some day become a veteran….It’s as unavoidable as a surprise administrator observation of your classroom during the last week of school. To be a “veterookie”, you have to think back to your first year of teaching and decide how to recapture just a little bit of that rookie “feeling.”
When you’re a rookie, every experience at school is new.
When you’re a veteran, nearly every experience at school is already known.
To be a “veterookie”, blend the two.
Do you even remember your first year of teaching? Did you get butterflies in your stomach when you pulled in to the teacher parking lot in the morning? Everything was new. Your lesson plan book was empty, your class syllabus was blank, and you did everything for the first time. It was exciting, exhausting, and your first year might best have been described as enduring.
To be a veterookie, make something new this year. You’ve never gone to the school play? This is the year. You’ve never attended an “away” game for one of your sports teams? This is the year. You’ve never eaten school food from the cafeteria? This is the….well…actually, you might want to pick something else! Rookies experience everything for the first time and it’s time to do it again!
When you’re a rookie, lessons are taught for the first time.
When you’re a veteran, lessons are mastered, repeated, and sometimes rote.
To be a “veterookie”, blend the two.
In my first year of teaching, I worked on lesson planning every night. Like most, I tried to stay a day (and sometimes two days!) ahead of my students. I read the material, learned the material, and attempted to teach the material. Sound familiar? The challenge for veterans is to not “settle” with your understanding of the concepts you teach.
During an in-service workshop early in my career, we had an educational expert present to our entire district (How exactly do you declare yourself to be an expert by the way!…I want to be one!). She told the group that you should never keep a lesson plan for more than 3 years and at the 3-year mark, it should be deposited directly into the trash. Hmmm…..
As a rookie, lesson planning was interesting and motivating because it was raw, unproven, and often flawed. Not everything worked…and that was motivating for me. I had many “If at first you don’t succeed” moments that were an important part of the teaching process. Rookie teachers experiment because EVERYTHING is new. To be a veterookie, take an existing lesson plan that is “tried and true” and take a chance at failure. Don’t take the expert’s advice and throw it away…But rather, take your own rookie advice and teach it in a different way that may or may not work. Ultimately, it could end up being an even better experience for your students (and for yourself!)
When you’re a rookie, you’re 22 years old.
When you’re a veteran, you have ties that are 22 years old.
To be a “veterookie’, try to teach “young.”
At first glance, it looks like a tribute to Taylor Swift….But what does it mean to teach young? To answer that question it might be best to think about what it means to teach “old.” Ferris Bueller’s homeroom teacher taught “old.” A note in a lesson plan book that reads “complete worksheet 4.2 in class – should take entire period” is teaching “old.”
Teaching “young” is laughing, questioning, sharing stories, challenging, wondering, tweeting, listening, creating, experimenting, attending, and most importantly learning.
Teaching keeps me young because I’m on stage every day. I get the opportunity to perform a live show in my classroom where tickets are free and the performance lasts for 51 minutes. It’s an audience-participation drama/comedy/action-adventure that lasts for 186 days before the curtain finally closes.
This might just be the year to be a veterookie. Attend events and activities for the first time, teach lessons (again) for the first time, and teach “young.” You’ll start thinking less about your “number” and more about the number of students you’ll impact this school year.
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