I
watched “Titanic” for the tenth time the other evening because there was
nothing on T.V. I wanted to watch. I
have always liked Titanic because there are so many “teachable moments”
embedded in it…and it is one of the few movies to make me cry uncontrollably (“Braveheart”
is one other that comes to mind).
Titanic is one of those classic movies I have actually bought so that I
can watch it again and again. My video
library also includes “Forrest Gump”, “The Wedding Singer”, and “Fever Pitch”.
It
occurred to me that Titanic has many similarities to your career in
education. No, not the practice of
keeping passengers of different social classes on different levels of the ship
(although that may serve as fuel for another interesting article later). The lesson I will share in this article is
that perspective is the most important ingredient for you to consider.
Let’s
first look at the story from the perspective of Jack and Rose. They meet, fall in love, and Jack is
tragically lost in the sinking of the ship.
Jack tells Rose before he dies that he will live through her…he will
survive in her memories. It is an
awesome story.
Rose
lives on to do all of the things she told Jack she wanted to do with her
life…she flew in an airplane, went horseback riding, she got married, had
children, and had many other great experiences.
When Rose died…warm and snug in her bed, she returned to Jack and the
Titanic – and she was young again.
Let’s
look at the story through the eyes of Rose’s husband. He married a great girl, spent 50 years with
her, and never knew that her heart belonged to another man the whole time. When she died, her mind was not on him…her
mind was on another man that she spent three days with on a boat 80 years
earlier. When the man’s granddaughter
heard the story of Jack, she asked “What about Grandpa?” Grandma Rose answered, “A woman’s heart is a
deep ocean of secrets.” That’s it? Wow. I
feel sorry for the guy…and yes, I know he is a fictional character. My wife has assured me that there is no
“Jack” in her past, and that she will be thinking of me when she passes
away. I choose to believe that, as I can
think of no worse way to spend a life than that poor fellow from the movie “Titanic”
that we never met.
What
does this have to do with your teaching career?
Good question! For most of you,
teaching is your love, your passion, your first career choice. Teaching is your “Rose”. After investing years of your life preparing
for your career, you may find out that teaching doesn’t love you back. You may feel like “Rose” has betrayed you,
and you want to quit teaching and find a new love. There will be days that you feel like the
students don’t appreciate you, you struggle to make ends meet because of your
low salary, and your family complains because you are spending so much of your
own money on teaching supplies.
It
is at these times that you need to remember why you chose teaching as a career
in the first place.
Once
you do that, you have to work to improve your relationship with Rose…I mean,
teaching. Let’s face it, the system isn’t
going to make the effort to improve its relationship with you! YOU have to take the initiative to learn some
new instructional strategies, implement a new discipline plan, or network with
some of your more knowledgeable colleagues.
I know it’s not fair…it’s LOVE!
You can’t choose who or what you fall in love with, it just
happens. You say you love teaching, so
you may have to fight to keep the relationship a happy one.
If
your answer to all of this is “It doesn’t matter what I do, it is never going
to get better unless my administrator gets some backbone, or we outlaw cell
phones, or we educate these crazy parents, or we stop trying to mainstream
special ed. kids, or we quit teaching to the test, or….” Maybe it is time to let go.
If
you are willing to improve yourself, I have several free resources for you:
http://www.newteacherhelp.com (my website)
http://www.instantsqueezepagegenerator.com/displaysp.php?m=64629&s=55496 (the sign up page for my free newsletter)
When
you sign up for my free newsletter, you can also download a free ebook I wrote
entitled “Why Do We Have To Go To School”.
I think you will like it!
Good luck…and happy teaching!
