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The Tides of Change

Following is an idealistic picture of teacher development over years of teaching, as told using the metaphor of an ocean journey.

Were the school year an ocean, and each day a wave, then the end of the year has in the past produced swells that can carry one away. As one embarks from shore on the first day of school, that one looks out onto the blue, glass-like waters and sees calm days ahead: students are focused, paperwork is in order, and expectations are high. Such one places confident grip at the helm of the classroom and peers into a hopeful future.

Still, the waters grow rough rather quickly. A lack of experience fosters growing surges in the waters as uncertainty about curriculum leads to equal uncertainty about the value of what is being taught. Clouds descend onto a bright-lit day to dim one's sunny outlook. Then, by years' end, confidence returns at having navigated the classes through the waves onto the opposing shore. The sun returns, but the intensity of the waves increase as well. Unfamiliar with the need to remain steadfast at the helm, and incapable of doing so at not having created a lasting set of classroom procedures, the discipline created begins to break down as students see land. Mutiny is not a danger, but the waves increase to produce moments of seasickness in crew and captain alike. Without land so evident, one might feel adrift.

Over time, having crossed this ocean many times, the seas remain relatively calm from shore to shore. There are days when waves still breach the deck; and days when one still questions the reading on one's curricular, disciplinary, and procedural compass. Still, such days are far fewer. The last leg of the journey, especially, is much more serene than in the past, as each member of the crew remains steadfast in the job assigned, and loyal to his or her station. Gone are the blue-faced moments of hurt feelings when discipline is assigned to a member of the crew, because crew and captain alike are--as much as possible--held to the same standard. Moments of introspection find one seeing flaws in one's role in the passage, but considering that all have gained and strengthened their sea legs proves that the journey was not in vain.

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