Dear Rob

I'm writing this letter to you, my younger, new graduate self, as you are about to begin your teaching career. As I write this letter I am now beginning my 30th year of this great profession. I thought I should tell you a few things that might be helpful as you begin your professional journey.

Don't make the mistake of talking too much. Remember the advice Aunt Eileen told you last week. Give others, especially your students, a chance to speak and then listen carefully to what they are saying.

Do be aware of the profound impact the things you do has on your students. Sometimes you will find out how you are positively influencing students lives, many times you will not.

Don't be such a hard-ass. That feeling you have from time to time is true -- your students are younger, more fragile, less mature, and more vulnerable than you think. In the future when your own children are grade 12 graduates you'll confirm this belief. Be very careful how you interact with your students. Avoid decisions that are systemically violent. Students, parents, and teachers need your kindness, caring, and compassion.

Do listen carefully to people with whom you disagree or do not understand. This will broaden your world-view in ways you can't imagine.

Don't hesitate when asked. Just say yes to doing things with students that you have very little or no idea about. Begin that yearbook creation project, scan those treaties, do things associated with biotechnology. You will do some of your best teaching when you are learning with your students as you struggle together to figure things out.

Do behave with your students in ways as if you are interacting with your own kids. Try to see your children in the faces of the students you teach. After you actually have children you will be doing this so start trying to do it now. (Spoiler Alert: it's a girl)

Don't refuse to do a project with your class or school because you are not sure which curricular outcome(s) it covers. No one will ever tell you that a project that makes a difference in the world (in your school, community, or the global community) is a bad idea.

After you have been a principal for some time and worked in the district office, get back into the classroom and be a full time teacher for a couple of years. This will remind you how difficult it is to be a teacher. You'll think you remember what it's like to be a teacher, you won't!

Rob Fisher
August 12, 2012

p.s. Definition hard-ass noun Slang: Vulgar .
a person who follows rules and regulations meticulously and enforces them without exceptions.

pps. the lotto 649 numbers for July 28th, 2012 are 6, 10, 22, 30, 35, and 49