I kind of fell into the whole teaching thing. It was never my plan to be a teacher. I had no desire to attend teacher’s college. In fact, when I was growing up, I was never really even that fond of school. I liked to learn, but was more self-guided. I didn’t enjoy the structure of school; my attention span was far too short for long, boring lectures and 2 hour exams.

But, 20 years on in my career, here I am. A teacher.

Math sucks. Mr. Hanley was my Math teacher in Grade 11. I despised Math. I was lousy at it, it ruined my A average, and it was all I could do to muster up the energy to go to class. I’ll never forget my first day of Grade 11. I was in a brand new school, thousands of kilometres away from where I’d spent most of my childhood, and I was miserable. I walked into Mr. Hanley’s math class with a sense of dread. I didn’t know anyone, and I was convinced that I was going to flunk.

I was sombrely sitting at my desk, hatching my plan to escape out the window when suddenly, the door of the classroom opened and Mr. Hanley walked in, with a very serious look on his face. He resembled a younger, more conservatively dressed version of Dr. Johnny Fever from the 70s TV show, WKRP in Cincinnati. He shot a death dart glance around the room and the class went silent. I wondered which of the windows I should make a break for. Mr. Hanley quietly sat down at his desk. He sorted papers and shuffled paper clips for what seemed an eternity. Then, ever so slowly, he reached for his desk drawer. You could hear a pin drop. He carefully pulled out a baseball hat, and put it on. I quickly realized that this was no ordinary baseball hat. It had a brim about a foot long. On the front of the hat were two giant, Disney-esque cartoon eyes. Stuck to the brim were two large, white felt teeth. On the sides of the hat were pasted two long, floppy ears. It was Goofy.

Then, with a completely straight face, Mr. Hanley said, “So, are we ready to do some Math?”

I think we all have a teacher in our past that made an impact on us. Mr. Hanley was that teacher for me. Not only was he a laid back guy, but he treated each one of his students like a real person. We weren’t “dumb kids” in his eyes. He knew we all had infinite potential. Each day he showed up to class, Mr. Hanley had a smile on his face, and a sparkle in his eye. You could tell he just loved to teach. And even though I still hated Math, I didn’t mind going to his class, because he was simply a joy to be around. He not only helped me to “get” fractions, he helped me to understand that it was okay to be an awkward teenager. That even though I might struggle with stuff, that I was fine just the way I was. He helped me realize that challenges are part of life, and if I just try, I could make it. I got a B in his class, and I know that it wasn’t because I was any good at Math. It’s because Mr. Hanley’s passion made me want to succeed, so I tried harder.

Let’s not forget why we’re here. Another school year has started. If you’re a post-secondary teacher like me, you’re swamped. You’ve got dozens of new students, and not a whole lot of time to learn their names, let alone what makes each one tick. It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of class prep, marking and administration. It can feel like you’re on autopilot, just trying to make it through another class.

Stop.

Step back for a minute. Forget the prep and the admin for a minute. Like Seth says, don’t rehearse so much. Take a deep breath. Your students are not looking for someone who will just recite facts at the front of the class and slap marks on the top of their pages. They are looking to you to give them an experience that will help them to expand. They are looking to you to share what you know. And that doesn’t come from a PowerPoint slide. It comes from YOU.

The true love of teaching for me, is not in standing at the front of my class spewing information. It’s in sitting down beside someone and letting them show me what they’ve achieved. It’s in the conversations that happen before, and after, and during class. It’s in the Skype conversation I had with one of my students at 11pm last night, because he was excited to talk about a video he came across. And mostly, it’s in knowing that, in my own small way, I’ve been able to help some people realize their potential, like Mr. Hanley did for me.

That’s what gets me up in the morning. That’s what makes me show up to class even after I’ve already worked a 10 hour day.

Thanks, Mr. Hanley, wherever you are. You taught me what it means to be a good teacher. And I aspire to be like you every time I walk into a classroom.

Now, where did I put my Goofy hat?

[image credit: Patrick Haney on Flickr]

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This week was the last week of classes for me and my students. They are off on field placement now for the next 6 weeks, then they graduate. For me, it’s the end of the school year, and it means seeing off a group of students that I’ve been with for the past 2 years.

Back in 2008, when this group started, they were new, green, and wide-eyed. Some were just out of high school, and trying to navigate the new terrain of college life. Others were on their second pass of college, having tried other programs before landing on the one that was the best fit. Still others were more like me – having worked for a number of years in various fields, now taking a chance and changing paths midstream. For all of them, it was a bit scary and new. There was so much to learn, so far to go. So many sleepless nights ahead of them. I know. I took the program. You don’t sleep much.

Flash forward, present day. They’ve spent two years learning, refining, and working really, really hard. The achievement is significant…they are ready now, to be web developers, designers, writers, video makers, and project managers. Some will specialize, and others will take it all, mould it to the best fit for them, and go forward. Some will go to work for companies, and excel. Others will turn their passion into their own business, and succeed.

I wanted to write this post for my class, to share with them a couple of things that I may not have articulated well enough in person. They are things I wish I’d been told when I graduated college and wasn’t. If you are my student, and you read this and get something out of it, then great. If not, no worries, I appreciate you taking the time to read it. If you’re not my student, and you get something out of it too, then fantastic.

The learning doesn’t stop here. It begins. Yep – you’ve just gone through two years of learning learning learning, and yep, it’s finally over. But actually, it’s not. Not even a little bit. This is where it starts. I went to college twice, and each time I graduated I walked out the door thinking I knew everything I needed to know. But boy, what a harsh realization it was when I discovered that in fact, I didn’t know everything. You don’t need to worry about this, though. You have come SO FAR. You DO know a lot! But what will make the difference between success and failure in your first few jobs (and the rest of them, for that matter), is knowing that you don’t know everything, and that it’s okay to not have all the answers. What is most important is your willingness to keep learning, keep searching for the answers, and not being afraid to keep asking questions. As long as you are still learning, you’re still moving forward.

80% of the game is just showing up. Ok, so you’ve got all these new skills, you’re ready to go out there and take on the world. But the phone is not ringing. The offers are not piling up like you thought they’d be. Damn. So, what now, then? Get a job in retail to pay the rent, consider going back and taking Advertising next year? Well, ultimately, that decision is up to you. But if you want that phone to start ringing, you HAVE to get out there and start meeting people. Sending out resumes is not going to get you a job. Getting a solid presence online, and getting out there and meeting people (virtually or in person) will. So, seek out people who are doing the things you want to be doing. Start conversations. Find events to go to. Things like Third Tuesday meetups and GenYOttawa and Podcasters Across Borders (if you live in Ottawa, but there are probably similar events in your town if you don’t). Get out there and go to them. Meet people. Not sure where to start? Read this from Chris Brogan. Shy (like me)? Then read this one from me. Then go do it. Just show up, and have a fantastic attitude. Be confident with what you have to offer the world. The rest will begin to fall into place.

You’re in charge of your career, not your boss. I worked for many years at jobs where I felt uninspired, under-challenged, and over-stressed. I did it because I thought I had to. Then one day I realized that, while it’s all fine and well to be responsible and have a job that pays the bills, there’s more to it than that. That maybe, just maybe, if I spent some time figuring out what my goals were, I’d be able to eventually find the kind of job where I could do what I love AND pay the bills. So, yes, get a job that pays the bills. But if it’s not exactly what you want to be doing, don’t settle. In the off-hours, spend time on defining and revisiting your goals. Come up with an action plan on how you’re going to achieve them. Then put that plan into action. Work really really REALLY hard at it. You will get there. Respect your bosses, for sure. You can learn a lot from them. But remember, you’re the only one who can make the decision about where you want to go in life. You have ultimate control, at all times.

Well that’s it. I wish I’d been told these things in college. It may have saved me some time and some grief. But, at the same time, I had to walk my own path, just as you have to walk yours.

I wish you all oodles and oodles of success beyond your wildest dreams.

Welcome to the whole world.

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Tomorrow I begin teaching my first video production class to a group of about 40 future web and new media designers. I have another 40 to teach on Monday. I’m pretty excited about it. We’re going to have a ton of fun, learning to write, shoot, and edit video and discovering the power of video as a Web medium. 

At the same time, I’m thinking about some serious things too. It occurs to me that this particular group of students, at this particular time, are squarely centered on the sharp, bleeding edge of the Internet. Social media is a burgeoning industry, and every day new and innovative ways to interact online are revealed (Chrome and Ubiquity are two that I’m pretty fired up about right now). Computers are smaller, faster, and more connected than ever before. And that’s only going to continue to grow and evolve at lightning speed.

As information disperses more and more widely, there is a real danger that the line between content and creator will become blurred. This is risky business. It’s so easy now to just mash it up, plop it on YouTube, and walk away. Peer to peer sharing is widespread, without a second thought to the source of the content. In our copy-and-paste world, plagiarism is at epidemic levels in our secondary and post-secondary schools. 

I know that the whole issue of copyright and ownership has been beat to death out here in the Blogosphere. But it is critical that the content creators of tomorrow understand the gravity of the situation. Nearly all of the knowledge in the world is now available at the click of a button; this is a dramatic shift from even 5 years ago. And more content is coming online every day. According to this article, Technorati alone tracks more than 110 million blogs. 

Today’s students are the people who are going to be creating the Web of the future. At some point we must begin to consider the continued integrity of the content on this future Web. I believe that those of us who have been in the Web industry since its inception about 10 or so years ago and in other forms of “traditional” media before that, have a responsibility to these up and coming creatives. We must ensure that they understand how to create good content. But we absolutely must pass on the utter importance of creating content that is real and true and unique, for this is the underlying motivation that will generate that good content. 

It’s up to all of us to maintain the integrity of the Web, by upholding copyright and plagiarism laws and by not tolerating content that is racist, hateful or harmful to others. Now that the Internet, social media and new media are becoming more common on the curricula of our schools, we must instill more than just a knowledge about what is hot and new. We must instill a sense that we are all ultimately responsible for what the Web becomes.

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