We learn a lot of different things in Teacher’s college. We learn the fine art of educating the world youth. We are given the skills to prepare units, lessons and activities that will engage students and give them the wisdom to be responsible and productive members of society.
These are the type of things I expected to learn when I arrived at teachers college and I certainly walked away with a great deal of this kind of “knowledge”.
However, there are many other things that we were taught as we were preparing to embark on our teaching journey. You see, most of the professors at teachers college are former teachers themselves.
These are the people who have been in the trenches, fighting the good fight for many years. These are the people who have knowledge far beyond that which any first-year teacher can even hope to possess.
Like Master Jedi’s they not only share with us the required curriculum that teacher’s college outlines they must teach but they also share with us the secrets of the force that allows teachers to live a long and prosperous life. Or did I mean to say helps teachers survive?
I remember the lesson from one professor very well. It stuck in my head because it seemed as ridiculous as lifting an X-Wing fighter out of a swamp with a wave of my hand.
She told us she was going to share with us one of the most important things NOT to do as a supply teacher. I sat in anticipation as I wait for this magic trick that was going to help me be the best supply teacher ever.
Her super secret to supply teacher survival: “Never, ever take a mug or food from the teacher lunch room that doesn’t belong to you!”
I laughed to myself, thinking how this had nothing to do with being a good teacher at all. It wasn’t until I was sitting in a staff room during my first year as a supply teacher and a teacher who taught at the school full-time came storming in yelling, “Who took my Garfield mug?” I sat in disbelief as another supply teacher on the other side of the room looked sheepishly from the Garfield mug in front of him to the angry woman standing 10 feet away.
