Why Teachers Should Talk about Teaching

Tom Rademacher, author of It Wonโ€™t Be Easy: An Exceedingly Honest (and slightly unprofessional) Book About Teaching, shares why teachers should tell their story. (And how they can do it without losing their job.)

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Below is an enhanced transcript, modified for your reading pleasure. For guests and hyperlinks to resources, scroll down.

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Enhanced Transcript

179 Why Teachers Should Talk About Teaching

Tom Rademacher @MrTomRad

Vicki: So Iโ€™m here at the National State Teachers of the Year conference (NNSTOY). Do check out their website.

Iโ€™m with one of our teachers, Tom Rademacher, from Minnesota. He is the author of It Won't Be Easy.

Why teachers need to talk about what they do teaching

Now, Tom, you kind of think that a lot of us teachers should start telling our story. Why?

Tom: I donโ€™t think thereโ€™s enough people doing it. I think, ultimately, just as busy as I am as writer, and how many people are asking me, and Iโ€™m not that interesting. (laughs)

The stories that happen in individual classrooms start to feel normal and everyday. But really every classroom is full of really amazing and really ridiculous things that happen.

To tell those stories, I think that those are the things that are missing from the national conversations about education. What does an actual classroom look like during the day?

Teachers have this tremendous power to share those stories, and I donโ€™t think that weโ€™re a profession that likes to talk about itself that much. I think itโ€™s a really important and powerful thing that we can do, to have more of use writing about what we see everyday.

What do you say to teachers who say โ€œIโ€™m not that specialโ€

Vicki: I totally agree with you, but I will say that itโ€™s intimidating.

You feel like, โ€œWell, Iโ€™m just a teacher,โ€ of โ€œIโ€™m not that special,โ€ or โ€œI donโ€™t want to draw attention to myself.โ€

What do you say to that?

Tom: I get that. I think the best teachers are humble, and they teach with humility. And so, as a profession itโ€™s hard for us to reach out of our classrooms and feel like weโ€™re not somehow betraying that quality.

But I think in a lot of ways, it serves us as professionals. I think it serves us as teachers to do that in some way — to enter the broader conversation.

When I started writing about teaching, it was really for me. It was a really powerful thing for my own practice — just to get things out, to reflect on them, to write about some of the harder things that happened. By writing them out, it kind of put order to them in my head.

You know, we donโ€™t PAUSE when weโ€™re teaching. Ever. We donโ€™t have 5 minutes to think and sit and reflect on something, unless we make ourselves take it.

And so it made me hit PAUSE on big events that happened in my classroom, and really reflect on them.

So thereโ€™s a service to doing it, to writing beyond, you know, getting attention, or whatever for yourself.

Vicki: (agrees)

Tom: So, yeah, I understand how people donโ€™t really want to reach out all the way. But itโ€™s a really valuable thing.

 

Vicki: So, I totally agree with you that educators who careโ€ฆ share. Thatโ€™s just what we do.

But you know thereโ€™s a lot of concern. Some administrators donโ€™t want their teachers writing about their classrooms. Some teachers are afraid. โ€œWell, if I write, Iโ€™m going to lose my job.โ€

Now you and I are both living proof that you can write and keep your job.

But what do you say to those who have that concern?

Tom: I think itโ€™s a really legit concern.

I think, really, unfortunately, you run into egos when you are in school systems.

There are plenty of people in building and district offices or departments of ed — who arenโ€™t interested in a teacher โ€œstepping outside of their lane,โ€

I guess is how they would look at it, right?

So when you start to be a teacher that gets more attention than your principal, maybe, or has people asking for your input, and not your superintendent, there are people that definitely push back on that.

I think thatโ€™s where we want to go as teachers.

I think that โ€œlaneโ€ weโ€™re put in — that school is something that happens to us, rather than something that we help design and run — we want to change that.

I think that a way to do that is to elevate as many teacher voices as we can.

And — if youโ€™re smart about, right? I mean, hopefully, you donโ€™t believe bad things about kids. Because if you do, then you shouldnโ€™t be teaching.

Vicki: Right?

Tom: But we all get frustrated, right? We have a frustrating day, and maybe weโ€™re just — honestly, sick of the class we have or sick of whatever. Thatโ€™s probably not the time to go writing…

Vicki: (laughs and agrees)

Tom: Think about what youโ€™re writing and putting on the internet, knowing that parents might see it. Your bosses might see it. So you want it to reflect your honest experience, but you also want it toโ€ฆ This is not a place to attack kids.

Vicki: Yeah. Well, Abraham Lincoln, when he died, they went in, and they found a whole lot of scathing letters that he never mailed. So I call it, โ€œLincolning my letters.โ€

Tom: Nice.

Vicki: I take it, if I write it. The best stuff you write is in the heat of the moment. It just is!

Tom: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Vicki: So Iโ€™ll write it. Then I sit on it for six months. So nobody can tell where it came from.

You know, some of the best stuff Iโ€™ve ever written — โ€œWhat do you do when people hate you?โ€ — is the most popular post Iโ€™ve ever written.

And that was a โ€œLincoln Letter.โ€ I waited six months to air that.

And the other thing is that we need to be part of an Eco-System and not an Ego-System.

When youโ€™re part of an Ego-System, that makes it really, really hard.

So, Tom, what is the difference maker for you? Have you had somebody whoโ€™s encouraged your writing in your school or your district that has kind of helped you have this voice?

Tom: I have a teaching team that Iโ€™ve worked with for a long time. My book is partially dedicated to them. We call ourselves โ€œThe Family,โ€ because we saw each other for many years more often than we saw our actual families.

I write for them in the way that I know that in the conversations weโ€™ve had with each other as teachers, they would call me out anytime I was being too fake, anytime I was trying to be political, anytime I wasnโ€™t being honest with myself about what was working or what wasnโ€™t.

I mean, they were the best kind of coworkers to have. Those ones who knew me, who knew when I wasnโ€™t pushing myself and called me on it.

Those three teachers are really who is in my head when Iโ€™m writing about teaching. I know theyโ€™re going to read it. I know theyโ€™re going to call me out if Iโ€™m being anything other than completely honest.

Vicki: I think weโ€™ve hit on something because I asked my curriculum director to read everything I write.

Tom: (agrees)

Vicki: And we discussed it.

So, you had accountability.

Tom: Yeah. Absolutely.

Vicki: So maybe, do you think accountability is the difference in the safety, and the being honest, and having longevity?

Tom: For me, honesty is the most important thing in teaching writing. I think when accountability is somewhat else but to yourself, that you are truly being honest about what you believe.

Youโ€™re not trying to write a โ€œpopularโ€ piece. Youโ€™re not trying to write a piece to fulfill a political agenda. Youโ€™re not trying to write a piece to make your boss or your union or the policy group you work with be happy.

Youโ€™re writing because youโ€™re sharing your authentic truth. I think thatโ€™s the most important thing we can do with our writing.

If we donโ€™t keep ourselves true to that path, I think thatโ€™s where you start to see writing that is disingenuous.

I donโ€™t think teachers as an audience have time to read something that isnโ€™t honest.

PAGE_BREAK: PageBreak

Vicki: (laughs) YEAH!

Tom: They will spot it instantly because we know what the real deal is.

And thatโ€™s what weโ€™re looking to read.

Vicki: Give a 30-second pep talk to teachers who are wondering if they might have a story to tell.

Tom: Wellโ€ฆ

1) You all do. I mean, I donโ€™t think thereโ€™s a day that goes by in school that something happens that people outside of school wouldnโ€™t believe if you told them. (laughs)

So you have a story to tell. You can tell it, if you are honest with yourself.

2) You donโ€™t need to put everything youโ€™ve ever thought about teaching into one piece.

Vicki: (laughs) Oh, thatโ€™s true!

Tom: Right? So tell your story. Make your point and be done.

If you think about the way that you write — or read — online, most people skim.

So donโ€™t worry about it.

It doesnโ€™t need to be a long piece.

In fact, shorter pieces often go really well, and work really well.

3) Donโ€™t burden yourself with what the final product will be, or if itโ€™s long enough, or enough things.

Know that there are so many people out there — hungry for stories from teachers.

Vicki: Yeah.

Tom: There will be an audience for everyone's stories to be out there. Thereโ€™s room for everybodyโ€™s to be out there, writing and sharing.

Vicki: So, educatorsโ€ฆ If you care, share.

Please. Share your story.

And would you tweet me @coolcatteacher when you share your stories, so we can share it with the broader audience.

His name is Tom Rademacher. His book is It Won't Be Easy.

Take a look at the Shownotes. Weโ€™ll give you lots of links.

Thanks again to NNSTOY for letting us record here at their conference!

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford: KymberliMulford@gmail.com

Bio as submitted


Tom Rademacher (Mr. Rad to his students) is the Minnesota Teacher of 2014. He writes about teaching. His book, IT WONโ€™T BE EASY: AN EXCEEDINGLY HONEST (AND SLIGHTLY UNPROFESSIONAL) LOVE LETTER TO TEACHING, will be available in April of 2017 from University of Minnesota Press.

Blog: http://misterrad.tumblr.com

Twitter: @MrTomRad

 

 

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a โ€œsponsored podcast episode.โ€ The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissionโ€™s 16 CFR, Part 255: โ€œGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

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Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis is a full-time classroom teacher and IT Director in Georgia, USA. She is Mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world. She hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast which interviews teachers around the world about remarkable classroom practices to inspire and help teachers. Vicki focuses on what unites us -- a quest for truly remarkable life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers that are grounded in the truth and shared with love. Vicki has been teaching since 2002 and blogging since 2005. Vicki has spoken around the world to inspire and help teachers reach their students. She is passionate about helping every child find purpose, passion, and meaning in life with a lifelong commitment to the joy and responsibility of learning. If you talk to Vicki for very long, she will encourage you to "Relate to Educate" or "innovate like a turtle" or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves to talk to teachers who love their students and are trying to do their best. Twitter is her favorite place to share and she loves to make homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and enjoys running half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

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