Vickie Gill - The Eleven Commandments of Good Teaching

For teachers everywhere who have devoted themselves to improving the lives of our children. What would we do without you?

Copyright 2009 by Corwin

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2015

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Acquisitions Editor: Jessica Allan

Editorial Assistant: Joanna Coelho

Production Editor: Veronica Stapleton

Copy Editor: Codi Bowman

Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.

Proofreader: Dennis W. Webb

Indexer: Sheila Bodell

Cover design by Rose Storey

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-320-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0094-9

Printed in China

Contents

Preface

To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work.

Sister Mary Lauretta

I n the summer of 1997, I learned that a bright, idealistic young woman had decided that she wasnt cut out to be a teacher because she couldnt get her students to behave. She wasnt in my department and we had rarely spoken, but my heart ached at the thought that a person with such potential would give up after only a year. I decided to sit down and write everything I wish I had said to her in the hopes that shed give it another try. I organized what I know to be true about good teaching into 10 basic attitudescommandments, if you will. I wanted to tell her that much of what I know I learned through mistakes, but one of the wonders of our profession is that teachers get a chance to review and renew at the beginning of every year. Sadly, I lost track of her that summer, and I have no idea whether or not she stayed in the profession.

Ive been a teacher for 30 years; I love my job, so it upsets me when I see eager, fresh-out-of-college teachers wanting to quit after the first two months. Ive spent a great deal of time as a colleague, and now as a mentor, trying to help them find reasons to stay. I know that after the first difficult year, things will get better for themthey just need practical advice from someone who has faced the same challenges.

I have also worked with colleagues who have been in teaching for a long time, but who have lost sight of what attracted them to this job in the first place. Some have become bitter, some have decided to take the path of least resistance, some are just waiting around for retirement. As a kid, I sat through class after class taught by frightened, frustrated newcomers or burned-out lifers. They had lost sight of the joy of teaching, but from their struggles, I created a vision of the teacher that I wanted to become.

In 2000, after a particularly difficult year, I added an eleventh commandment that reminds us that even veterans can feel like novices at times. Eight years later, Ive updated the advice in this book to match what Im currently doing in my classroom. I find that my overall approach to teaching still works; however, I have fine-tuned some of my classroom management techniques and revised teaching units to meet the ever-changing needs of my students, especially with slashed budgets and the dominance of standardized testing in our schools. For this third edition, Ive also considered the increasing presence of sophisticated technology in the classroom. We would be foolish to ignore these wonderful tools, but at the same time, the most intuitive Smart Board will never replace knowledgeable, passionate teachers who can inspire their students to master the skills that will be useful both inside and outside of the academic world.

Our students can locate information that will help them pass standardized tests by reading textbooks or searching onlineit takes an engaged, inspired teacher to help them believe that these skills are worth mastering. Thats what this book is all aboutrecapturing the passion, figuring out ways to create intimacy in overcrowded classrooms, and making sure that our students feel seen and that their teachers are dedicated to their success. It is worthwhile work.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the staff at Corwin for their constant support, especially Jessica Allan, Joanna Coelho, and Phyllis Cappello. Thanks also to Gracia Alkema for her confidence in accepting my manuscript for the first edition of this book, and to Rachel Livsey for guiding me through the second edition. As always, this project would not have been completed without the help and encouragement of Kam Jacoby and my daughters, Delaney, Jenny, and Casey. A special thanks to Ken Parker, my new boss, for graciously giving me the time to finish this projectI am inspired by your vision.

In addition, the publisher would like to acknowledge the following peer reviewers for their editorial insight and guidance:

Lisa Garbe

Secondary Literacy Specialist

Tucson Unified School District

Tucson, AZ

Michelle Haj-Broussard

Assistant Professor

McNeese State University

Lake Charles, LA

Dr. Karen Hayes

Associate Professor

Department of Educational Administration and Supervision

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Gayla LeMay

8th Grade History Teacher

Radloff Middle School

Duluth, GA

Alexis Ludewig

2002 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year

Northland Pines School District

Little Chute, WI

Dr. Karen L. Tichy

Associate Superintendent for Instruction

Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Saint Louis

Saint Louis, MO

About the Author

Vickie Gill has taught high school English, reading, and journalism for 30 years in both California and Tennessee. She has a BA in English from San Jose State University and a MEd from Vanderbilt University. Ms. Gill has won several teaching and community service honors and was a finalist for Tennessee State Teacher of the Year in 2000. She is currently teaching part-time and works as a consultant for a school district in Central California. She also maintains a blog about teaching and parenting at http://www.vickiegill.com.

Thou Shalt Have a Calling to Teach

Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.

B. F. Skinner

I became a teacher because I detested schoolhated just about every minute of it, particularly from sixth grade on. By the time I was in eighth grade, I had a chair of my own right outside the vice-principals office. I was a teachers nightmarethe one in the back of the class making noises and comments to make the kids around me laugh. I constantly asked the dreaded question, Why do we have to learn this stuff anyway? My teachers would warn me not to get smart with them, which always struck me as a contradiction in terms. I would read every book on the suggested reading lists sent home by my English teachers but refuse to admit that Id read the books. I didnt want to give my teachers the satisfaction of thinking they had taught me something. I hiked my skirts up, ratted my hair, and sported heavy black eyeliner and white lipstick. When the vice-principal pulled me into her office to wash my face, unroll my skirts, and comb out my hair, Id march to the closest restroom and redo the whole look. I was one of the girls who wouldnt let you into the bathrooms at lunch because my friends and I were in there smoking.