Mastery achieved
According to Gladwell, mastery of a trade requires a minimum effort of ten thousand hours. A rule. Applying that calculation to education, the (contractual) five hours a day for ten school years brings one to the threshold.
My friend, today, completes 35 years in front of the masses. Mastery, at least four times over (since no good teacher puts in just five hours a day). She is an expert in her chosen field. And I stand speechless, in awe.
Unless you’ve had the chance to live with a teacher, the devotion to the cause is hard to grasp. Up early, on the move through the hours and hours of “presence”, followed by the hours and hours of preparation and evaluation. It can stretch into the middle of the night; I know. When the final bell rings in June, a slight pause to redress position, and then “back at it”, with a whole new gang a few weeks later. Don’t play into the myth that teachers have the summer “off”. Didn’t happen, from where I sat.
As a teacher, she knows about evaluation. With one exception; her own self-evaluation. She spent the years convinced that her own skill set was somehow less than complete. Mastery for everyone but herself. Now, on the threshold of her next career, I hope she will take a few moments to reflect on just how competently she met the challenges.
I don’t think she’ll ever stop teaching. That’s just not how she sees the world. But, as the rest of us offer congratulations, may she accept that she has achieved mastery of her profession.
