After an insightful chat with #edugladiators this morning, I put my mind to work coming up with ideas on how I can become a gladiator educator.
Write a mission statement for my classroom. Set the goals. Be passionate about every goal I want to implement and conquer. Being passionate is not something you keep to yourself, it eludes from every pore, it is visible from a mile away. Teachers need to show this enthusiasm daily for it is contagious and students will get hooked.
It is not good enough to just write down a mission statement and be passionate. I have to focus on the end result. I have to visualize how I am going to get there. The steps need to be well thought out because they will be steps that I lead others to follow. I need to leave a well marked path for my students to follow. A path they find on their own, but where I leave the crumbs of discovery.
A gladiator teacher know that collaboration is key. To work as a team makes us stronger, I will plan with my team and other subject area teams to make my classroom inclusive of all subjects. I want students to see that science is in fact in every subject and vice-versa. I want to be a leader for change, I want other teachers to also see the value in cross-curriculum teaching.
To be a true gladiator, a teacher needs to be in the foreground, exposed as a leader of change. They also need to have a focus on a purpose and take ownership of the action. They must accept defeat, but get back up again shield and sword and continue the fight but in a different way. Teachers are inherently risk takers and gladiators face the risk bravely. Gladiators know when to swing the sword or take a step back from the fight. But they never give up just merely change tactics.
In my classroom I am already a risk taker. But where I fail is sharing my ideas and inspiring others to follow. I need to be more passionate and vocal on my ideas. I also need to be more willing to let students take the lead. I have a student-centered classroom for the most part but this year flexible seating and a student lead makerspace will help my gladiator skills become more proficient.
Finally, teachers are all gladiators, we do take risks, we are leaders, we are the voice of change. We have the skill of patience and staying calm in a crisis. We prepare for every contingency. Then another arises. A true gladiator faces the upheaval and quickly adjusts for the incoming chaos. I admit I am usually good on my feet in a classroom disruption, but I do lose focus. I can lose sight of the end goal. The end goal is student learning. So even with a course change and a speed bump gladiators stay on the path and lead their troops to victory.
My goals to becoming a gladiator: focus, drive, determination, leadership but most importantly to have confidence in myself as a teacher that I can win the daily classroom battles and ultimately the tournament.
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