Losing It

Losing it: When the pent up frustrations of teaching, of life, of every little thing that needs to be done on an endless to-do list suddenly erupt.

Losing It

(Sung to the tune of A Wonderful Guy)

Teachers are human and we lose our cool sometimes. Occasionally �losing it" is an understandably human response to the incessant flow of life pressures and the demands of the classroom. Perhaps, though, we can lose ourselves in song instead.

Eric Baylin has been a teacher for 38 years, working with a variety of age levels in both public and private schools in New York and North Carolina. He currently works at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, New York, a K-12 independent school established in 1854. In addition to teaching art and photography to middle- and high-school students, Eric coordinates a program of collaborative faculty study groups in Packer's professional development program.

Even the mildest among us can lose it.
Even the even-keeled sometimes can break.
Add a few stressors, plus student transgressors,
And maybe that�s all that it takes.

Sometimes the pressure mounts up from the inside,
Self-imposed high expectations to meet,
Never quite good enough, taking on too much stuff,
That�s when you may not be sweet.

Sometimes the stress is imposed from the things
Over which you have little control,
Family emergencies, plumbing leak urgency,
Those things can take a big toll.

That�s when you need to be very judicious,
That�s when you may lose your typical cool.
Losing your patience, you vent your frustration,
Your feelings are way off, it�s better to lay off, you might need a day off from school.

Sometimes, quite frankly, it�s students who push us,
When they are rude and when they give us flack.
Takes all of our control not to reverse the role,
And just to dish it right back.

When you start feeling the pressure a-mounting,
Try to step back from the urge to explode.
Nothing good comes from it, student morale plummets,
Find somewhere else to unload.

Pound on a pillow or pound on a door,
And there�s one other thing not to do,
Don�t dump your bad day on colleagues for sure,
Cause they might be having one too.

Losing it now and then shows that you�re human,
But if it�s daily, that might be a clue:
Working with students might not be so prudent,
It might be right for you to think about business or banking. They pay better too.

This is my 39th year in teaching. Ouch! It's hard to see that in print. Several years ago, I had one of those great "aha" moments that has given new life to my role as an educator.

I've always been interested in working to change schools in ways that enhance and support learning, but I'd gotten to a point in my career when I saw that all my serious, effortful striving played only a minimal role in change. The "aha" came when I realized that I could, at least, change my state of mind by laughing at the very things that bugged me most. OK, maybe not everything. But at least the little everyday stuff that nags at me and drags me down.

That thought became fodder for songs about school and teaching, which I started writing as a way of helping myself (and my colleagues) survive the year with an intact sense of humor.

I still work hard to change the things that stand in the way of student (and adult) success in schools. But now I wonder -- seriously -- if laughter itself isn't one of the soundest pedagogies, a "best practice" that can help us re-tune our schools and shift the culture to one that genuinely embraces wellbeing and lightness of heart as sound supports for learning.

I wouldn't mind working at a school whose mission statement included, after those ever-familiar phrases, "lifelong learning" and "supportive, yet challenging environment," the words

And this is a school where we love to laugh!

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02/26/08