Sometimes my students will ask me why I became a teacher. I tell them that I wanted to be an Economics teacher from the age of 15 because I really liked my Economics teachers. Not many comprehensive schools offered Economics at GCSE (and still don’t) but I was lucky enough that mine did and I had two Economics teachers that I admired and they really instilled in me a love for the subject. I wasn’t the best student but they always showed me kindness, respect and patience and they encouraged me endlessly. I think it’s pretty standard in teaching that you become a teacher because someone inspired you. Anyway, my teachers were Mr Munday and Mr Gunningham. One continued in education and is now the President of the Chartered College of Teaching and the other is on the other side of the world being a business consultant. They were fantastic role models and I appreciate everything they did for me.
The poem that I have written relates to this and is in the form of a Ghazal. I have never written a Ghazal poem before but I was inspired by listening to Michael Rosen’s ‘Word of Mouth‘ show featuring renowned poet Raymond Antrobus. In the show, he reads one of his own poems called ‘Jamaican British’ which is a Ghazal poem and it’s really good. I thought I’d have a go and soon discovered that they are incredibly difficult to write and to be honest, I’m not really happy with what I’ve produced. I’m also not sure whether I’ve kept strictly to the rules of a Ghazal poem. I have done a minimum of 5 couplets and have obviously kept the rhyme and refrain but that’s about it. If you’d like to learn more about this then click here and you can read what the Poetry Foundation has to say about the Ghazal. It also has a link to some examples and I think the one from Patricia Smith is brilliant.
The poem and the quote from ‘The History Boys’ at the top is clearly about passing on your love for a subject (as my two Economics teachers did) and hope that as a teacher, your students might also feel the same way. I’m absolutely delighted whenever I hear about an old student of mine becoming an Economics teacher. I’m not vain enough to put that down to me but I hope I have inspired them in some way.
On a slightly different note, relatively recently I read a book by William Poundstone called ‘Are You Smart Enough To Work At Google‘ and it’s a really fun book to read. It’s basically an investigation into interviews around the world and the kind of questions you get asked. However, it also suggests that interviews are a bit of a waste of time because you can’t ever really tell whether someone is suitable for a position or not. Therefore, what is the best question you can ask at an interview that might help you make a good decision? He suggests that there is quite a good correlation between those who were passionate about the job/subject from an early age and their performance in it. For example, if someone has been constructing model airplanes during their formative years and eventually they want to be an airplane designer, the chances are they will be a success. Intuitively this makes sense. If you are passionate about something, then you will work really hard at trying to be the best that you can, even though you might not be good in the first instance.
In the world of teaching, I think this is hugely important and therefore I now include this in my interview questions for new recruits. If there is clearly an early driver of why they the wanted to become a teacher, I look upon this very favourably when making a decision. Otherwise you might end up with teachers that have come from an Armstrong and Miller sketch and that wouldn’t be good for anyone!
On Teaching... 