Some 20-plus years ago, I was chatting with the then-current California Teacher of the Year, and he told me this story, one I鈥檝e never forgotten: After he was named the Golden State鈥檚 most outstanding teacher, he decided to thank the teacher who had been most instrumental in his decision to go into teaching.
He鈥檇 been a lackluster student in high school, spending time, when he was supposed to be in class, smoking pot and riding his motorcycle. He had no plans for college or a distinguished, challenging career鈥攈e was mostly hoping to stay out of the military. One English teacher, however, saw something in his writing and his thinking, and told him he had the capacity to make a living that way, if he went to college.
It took a few years, but eventually, he did, leading to a career鈥攐bviously successful鈥攊n the classroom. After receiving the award, he looked up his old (in both senses of the word) teacher, now in residence at an assisted living facility. She received him graciously, and was thrilled that one of her former students was now the California Teacher of the Year.
But鈥攕he didn鈥檛 remember him.
She was still mentally sharp, and articulate. But she could not remember teaching him. His name was not familiar, nor was his face. She apologized鈥攕he鈥檇 had thousands of students, over a long career. But she couldn鈥檛 recall instructing him, let alone making the remark that changed his life.
In many ways, this is the perfect story.
It鈥檚 a brilliant illustration of how teachers鈥� influence can be deep, long-lasting, and utterly unpredictable. It鈥檚 also a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks that the ideal teacher can be carefully selected, through the use of standardized testing data, excellent grades, or personal references.
Where do good teachers come from? How do we pick promising candidates out of the crowd? What is the secret to putting the right people in the classroom?
We could start by treating teachers as vital cogs in our national health and well-being. This would mean paying them well, ensuring their safety and support in our classrooms, encouraging long-term careers, and rewarding accrued experience. We were headed in that direction decades ago, when the California Teacher of the Year and I began our teaching careers. Not so any more.
Still鈥攖here鈥檚 something to the idea that teachers are motivated to pursue excellence in the classroom by who they are, the diverse life experiences, beliefs, and inherent character traits they bring to the table. A teacher who can鈥檛 identify a talent for writing in a boy who skips class or appears to be wasting his life isn鈥檛 鈥渆ffective.鈥� A teacher whose distaste for certain students prevents her from telling them they have that talent is morally deficient.
You can鈥檛 test for courage, imagination, humor, patience, and the thousand other essentials that make teachers outstanding. There is no scientific measure of commitment and persistence. And the assertion that our current teaching crop comes from the lowest levels of human potential is both false and insidious.
Here鈥檚 what to include only the :
The idea that Finland recruits the academically "best and brightest" to become teachers is a myth. In fact, the student cohort represents a diverse range of academic success, and deliberately so. A quarter of the accepted students came from the top 20 percent in academic ability and another quarter came from the bottom half. This means that half of the first-year students came from the 51- to 80-point range of measured academic ability. You could call them academically average. Teaching potential is hidden more evenly across the range of different people. Young athletes, musicians and youth leaders, for example, often have the emerging characteristics of great teachers without having the best academic record. What Finland shows is that rather than get "best and the brightest" into teaching, it is better to design initial teacher education in a way that will get the best from young people who have natural passion to teach for life.
It鈥檚 interesting to me that Sahlberg suggests teaching potential is 鈥渉idden鈥� and its qualities 鈥渆merge,鈥� in likely candidates. I am convinced that teachers are both born and made.
You cannot know what it鈥檚 like to be a teacher鈥攖he daily grind, the magic moments, the crushing workload, and the light-bulb inspirations鈥攗ntil you spend a couple of years in your own classroom. Even the most talented, natural teacher has to work at it, and work hard, through discouragement and fatigue. And some academic superstars are missing the capacity to accept and, indeed, believe in those whose abilities are also hidden.
maybe we should widen our perspectives on just who should be standing in front of our children.