Defining Teaching Moments

Matthew Oldridge
Aug 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Jonathan So challenges us to think about our top 5 defining teaching moments.

Here are mine.

Completing a Master’s Degree

Referring to Finland is utterly cliched, I know, but I honestly believe all teachers should have a Master’s degree, like they do in Finland. We need to elevate the discourse around our profession, our methods and tools and philosophies, and Faculties of Education don’t prepare us well enough.

One thing that all of us should have is some training in research methods, and how to distinguish good and bad research. Further, we need to place the education profession into a bigger and wider historical context. How and why is our system how it is?

Joining Twitter

Teaching is a very lonely profession. You close your door (or not), and teach your kids. You can go days without interacting with another human being, if you are of the type to avoid the staffroom. Twitter made me realize that there are others like me out there.

There is a real power in being able to reach out and ask any question all, and have it answered. Online communities are real communities, full of real people, making real connections. I have been pushed and challenged, and got in arguments.

There is teaching BTE (Before the Twitter Era) and teaching TE. I’d much rather be in the Twitter era.

Becoming A PD Presenter

Way way back, I read a great book called When Kids Can’t Read and desperately wanted to share it. I was only in my second year of full-time teaching. My principal strongly encouraged me to share at a staff meeting. I worked up a presentation, and shared. It took a lot of courage to stand up in front of experienced peers. Being able to share my learning was transformative. Supportive principals are transformative.

Learning is meant to be shared.

The First Time a Parent Told Me Her Daughter Now Loved Math

Fun is not the end goal of teaching, but this showed me I was on the right track. I was a pretty terrible math teacher for a few years. Something wasn’t quite right.

After a few years I really started to immerse myself in how to teach math, and how to give interesting tasks and problems. Things changed quickly.

Some things I pieced together gradually:

  • math is interesting, and kids should see that it’s interesting
  • talking about mathematics is interesting
  • tests aren’t the be all/end all of mathematics assessment

Learning About Work/Life Balance

It’s far too easy to let teaching dominate your life. When I learned that I could set my job aside in the evenings, and draw clear boundaries, I became much happier. Burning out serves noone-not your students, not your family, and most definitely not you.

I managed stress badly those first few years. I wouldn’t go back to that!

)

Writing about creativity, books, productivity, education, particularly mathematics, music, and whatever else “catches my mind”. ~Thinking about things~

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