My Teaching Experience

I used to look forward to retirement. Now that I've stopped teaching, though, I really miss my job. I especially miss the kids. I taught many students over the years, you know. How many? An educated guess would be around eight thousand! I'm glad I kept all the old yearbooks. My husband wanted me to throw them away, but I couldn't. I have forty of them—one for each year that I taught—in a special bookcase. I love looking through those yearbooks. The photos help me to remember my students.

Here's the yearbook from 1952, my first years as an English teacher. See this photo of me with my class? I looked as young as the students. When I graduated from teachers college, I thought I knew everything. I quickly found out, however, that I still had lots to learn. The saying, "Experience is the best teacher," is true! I became a student of experience, in the school of hard knocks.

For example, I learned the hard way that I couldn't demand respect from my students. I had to earn it. In that first year, I tried to be very tough. I want to show the students that I was in control. When they misbehaved in class, I yelled at them and threatened them. At first I thought I had succeeded. The kids became fearful and quiet in my presence. I found out later, though, that they laughed at me behind my back. That really bothered me. The experience was painful, but it taught me an important lesson. Before students could respect me, I had to respect them.

I had other lessons to learn, too. In fact, I made a lot of mistakes early in my career. Fortunately, I was quick to learn. I soon learned to enjoy my job and to do it well. To me, the most important part of teaching was this: helping students to find their goals. All kids need to realize that their lives have a very important purpose. Otherwise, it's hard for them to hit the books. They cut classes. They don't do their homework. Some of them even flunk out. I hate to see that happen.