Back to school

Teachers in the Joplin R-8 School District returned to work Monday and it was good to be back. After getting a late start in teaching, I will begin my ninth year in the classroom when students return tomorrow.
Monday night, I had an opportunity to meet many of my students for the 2007-2008 school year and their parents during the annual open house. The beginning of the school year is that magic time when students and teachers have their batteries recharged and all things are still possible.

Two years ago, I was asked to write a statement about how teaching should transcend accepted educational methods. I came across that statement a few days ago while I was going through some papers and getting my classroom ready. After reading it through, I was reminded of why I made the move to go back into teaching, when it probably would have been easier to just move on to another newspaper:

Being a non-traditional teacher (I started at age 43) provided a golden opportunity to see the differences that have taken place in children over the past two decades.
The two-parent household is no longer the norm and many children do not have even one positive role model at home. That makes it vital that teachers transcend accepted educational methods.
The textbook way to teach a class does not always work when you have children who do not receive physical or emotional nourishment at home.
Education is a pathway to success, but for these children, it is also a pathway to survival.
For teachers to play a part in steering children in the right direction, we must be willing to do more than just lecture, hand out worksheets, and give tests. This is not just an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. process. The doors need to be open for children who want to do extra work, who want you to help them with their studies, or who simply want to tell you what happened to them that day because they have no one at home to listen to them.
Teachers have to be willing to attend some of the students' extracurricular activities, not just because they are required to do so (and we usually are not), but to show the students that we care about them all the time and not just when they are in our classrooms.
Maybe the most important thing we can do for our students is not to lower our standards. By showing the students that quality work is necessary for success, we are providing them with a key that will unlock many doors for them as they make their way through life.
Though teaching has never been and never will be a pathway to riches, teachers who transcend accepted educational methods and find a way to reach into both the hearts and minds of the students, will have the kind of wealth that money cannot buy.