Iteration in the Teaching Practice

 If there is one elusive thing about teaching is being successful. The nature of success is, for the most part, an intangible, a structure usually underpinned in magic.

The other obstinate aspect of success is its short shelf-life. Success tends to obsolete the very elements that take you there.

Teachers may not be aware of that. Yet, their subconscious knows better. Every teacher knows there are no recipes for the job: any degree of mastery obtained results from the iteration, the conscious revision of what worked or not. The job is never well done. The teaching job nature is a state of flux.

I feel the teaching profession is one of the most puzzling ones in terms of defining the profile of the teacher. There tends to be a yuxtaposition of tradition and innovation in most educators. We all feel that certain things are right and many times we look for scientific substance to back up our decisions. Practice overrides many read materials. The reality of the job is so many times overwhelming.

The pace of planning, delivering and correction leaves little time for a teacher to wonder what skills are being developed, ditched or badly needed for the new context. One thing is certain: we are practicing high resilience levels on a daily basis. A lot of teachers have been wondering for years what kind of experiences the new tools can bring about. Others rely more on the face-to-face model of teaching: I still hear some colleagues argue that the classroom experience is impossible online. Perhaps many teachers persist in their vision of some in-between-days we are living until schools reopen. The time the pandemic is owning is not on their side. But why? Why can't teachers embrace change even if there is no way out?