I Fear Mediocrity 

Mediocre
-Adjective: Of only moderate quality; not very good

As I was surfing the web, I came across an interesting article titled Confessions of a Mediocre Teacher. It was written in 2009 and published in the community site for educators known as Faculty Shack. The site, although I have not had much time to explore fully, seems to be an area for educators to freely share tips, advice, memories, ideas, etc. through blog posts.

The reason for why the article struck me is because the author admitted to being a mediocre teacher. He went through the reasons for why he felt like a mediocre teacher:

 Ever since I started teaching, I had never had a "good year." You know one of those years that in early April or May, you start feeling good about your students. You covered most of what you set out to teach. Your discipline went well, generally, with only a few detentions, a couple of parent conferences and a few of screams across the room. The kids seemed to cooperate, but most of all, the students learned a few things. Three or four of them, during the spring, tell you of a thing or two they read in the paper, on the Internet or saw on t.v. that reminded them of that story they read in October, or that essay they wrote in November in your class. When students can remember stories they read months ago, essays they wrote in your class and connect them to real world events and want to talk about them with you, then you can bet some good teaching went on in your room.

Well, actually, I wouldn't know all this stuff because I never had one of those years. I don't mean to oversimplify anything, so let me explain a bit.

The author, who posts as Ernest, is very candid and honest in his reflection. He writes about the different kinds of teachers we can find in schools and how he knew that his students we not learning in his class. I admire the honesty in his writing and the thought-provoking questions that he has challenged me with as I read the article. I know that right now, I am looking forward to finding a steady teaching job. I have the drive and determination to try to become a great high school teacher. I want to put in the time necessary to work with my students, to look out for their needs, to be a successful teacher for them. However, there are times when I come home from a day of student teaching and decide to not grade the assignments I brought home, to wait off on planning for the next lesson, to look into finding resources later, etc. I sometimes come home after a difficult day and begin to doubt my career choice. Granted, I am only a student teacher. Everything that I am experiencing right now is a new experience, a new opportunity prepares me for the future. With the new experiences come stress, bad lesson plans, great lesson plans, trouble with students and incredible successes too. Reading Ernest's article reminds me of the need to remain active and engaging. I do not want to feel like a mediocre teacher who does only what she needs to do in order to get by. Instead, I really do want to focus on my students. I want my students to remember previous work, to look back to my class and think of significant assignements and good rewarding memories! So, whenever I feel myself falling into a rut (or contemplating of taking the "easy way out" and not planning for my lessons), I will remind myself of Erenest and his honest commentary on what it feels like to be a mediocre teacher.