Teaching begins for me in just about a week. It represents my 5th year as an educator. As now made famous by Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers book, there is something called the 10,000 hour rule. Basically, mastery of a craft or subject requires, on average, 10,000 hours of practice. By my calculations (which means even having to include the first year, which was something of a punch to the gut of self-esteem), 9 teacher-related hours x 180 days x 4 = 6480 hours. So I'm at 64% on the Mastery Gauge, right?
Now, obviously reaching 10,000 hours at anything doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to become a master or expert. Some people have been rapping since they were 12; yet they sound more like a Muppet baby than Mr. "Weezy F. Baby." The theory simply posits that most people famous for a craft or art (musicians, athletes, etc.) required practice above and beyond the 10,000th hour to truly demonstrate mastery of their artform. Somehow, I can already see a dad somewhere in America calculating just how his son will become the next Pele or Federer using fuzzy math equations.
Back to me, though. I enjoy teaching for reasons too numerous to recite. I'm anxious for the new school year to begin. I have gotten better as a teacher every year. And while I might not become an expert in two years or so, I will most certainly be better, and my students will be all the better for it.
** The title pertains to one of the few teachers I actually remember. I had a Spanish teacher in middle school named Mr. Lora. He would always pontificate, "Education is the key. Either you can go to Yale or jail. Penn State or the State pen." The Penn State reference aside (not quite on Yale's scale), his influence always stuck with me. Those are good teachers. Teachers either have moments that stay with you or they 'stay getting on your nerves'.
This is a video of the school where I teach. Enjoy.
