Super Teachers

Lean on Me, Higher learning, Dangerous Minds, and even Coach Carter. These were the movies that drew many of us to the classroom. Those films reveal to us that with tireless dedication we can truly transform the world one classroom at a time. That a teacher could be the factor to counterbalance the massive pull of the streets, the numerous social economic factors choking the life out of a student. Those movies taught us that though a teacher may face challenges, if their pedagogical skills are up to snuff they can ultimately overcome any obstacle, learning disabilities, and or institutional deficiencies. Perhaps what these movies illustrate are a true embodiment of what teaching can be. However I believe that the super teacher archetype so often revealed in movies is a cheap caricature of the teaching profession. A depiction that lacks nuisance.
True teaching is arduous and long suffering. It is space that exist between the climax of the movie like Freedom Writers and the part where they start showing the picture of the actual teacher and their students. You know the part where the sub captions begin to explain where the students are now. The reality is, that Jaime Escalante continued teach students long after his movie ended. Coach Carter continued to coach even after his first year. The moments captured in these films only document a snapshot of those teachers greatness. The unintended consequences of these snapshots are that they skew our understanding of what teaching greatness actually is. Failure to properly contextualize teacher achievements result in teachers aspiring to false ideals of teaching success. Such an understanding is now more important than ever, as much of our discourse around teaching proficiency and success is reduced to standardize test scores and even more insidious an extremely out of wack work life balanced where exemplary teaching practiced resembles teachers willing to fill their life with as many non-paid extracurricular responsibilities as possible. With such backdrop it is quite easy to understand why teacher retention and recruitment has reach historical lows.
It is hard to decipher what came first the super teacher narrative, or the super teacher movie, nevertheless the story must shift. It is true that the work of teaching is urgent and requires that all pedagogues work diligently to master their craft. Yet what we must keep in mind is the best teachers are human beings not caricatures. It is our humanity that allows us to best empathize and build strong relationship with our most defiant students. It is our humanity that seeks creative ways to teacher our students. It is our humanity that allows us to have intense compassion and advocate for our most disadvantage students. Yet it is this same humanity that school leaders, districts, and legislatures so easily forgot. Opting for student first language that often implies teacher last. High performing school which is often synonymous with High teacher perishing.
Sustainable teaching is not antithetical to successful teaching. The true work of a super teachers is not easily adapted to film. Super teaching is filled with student success, failure and everything in between. I had an administrator who always made his business to remind me that teaching is Marathon and not a race. Perhaps the problem with the super teacher movie is that it isn't longing enough.