How To Become a Teacher: Jennifer Flynn-Clark

Stu­dent: Miss Flynn-Clark. She’s our Vice-Principal now. It’s so hard to put it into words.She’s just an inspi­ra­tion, and a woman that I would like to be one day.

JFC: The most impor­tant qual­ity for a suc­cess­ful teacher is pas­sion. You have to have pas­sion for the stu­dents — for every age group that you’re teach­ing. You have to have pas­sion for learn­ing. You have to have pas­sion for the work.  I don’t think teach­ing could be given proper jus­tice if it’s not actu­ally your life work. I feel it’s not a job.  It’s my life’s work.

Intro 2: This is How to Become dot tv.

JFC: My name is Jen­nifer Flynn-Clark.  I’m a Vice-Principal at Nancy Camp­bell Col­le­giate Insti­tute. It’s my sec­ond or third favourite job. Teach­ing is my favourite. [laugh] It’s the kind of job that if I won the lot­tery I’d still come to work. I can’t think of a bet­ter way to spend my day.

The type of per­son best suited to be a teacher, in my opin­ion [is some­one who has to have] a love of learn­ing. They will learn as much as they are teach­ing, if not more. They have to have a sense of humour. They have to be able to build rap­port with young people.

The most impor­tant thing for a new teacher to know, I think many would say, is about the work.  And it is a con­sid­er­a­tion. It is a huge amount of work. You are start­ing off brand new.  You have noth­ing built up. You have no resources; you have no les­son plans. So, there is a level of dis­ci­pline and focus that’s required. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint.

But it’s also a marathon not a sprint for the involve­ment with the stu­dents. I think a lot of peo­ple expect that maybe they are going to have those moments of “the light bulb turns on,” and the kids love them right away; and every­thing they plan goes really well because they’re really excited about their les­son plan, and the kids are going to love it.  And fre­quently that doesn’t happen.

Stu­dent: Her qual­ity is also car­ing. That’s what I appre­ci­ate about a teacher. A teacher that appre­ci­ates patience and caring.

JFC: You may not ever know the effect you have on a stu­dent.  If you’re lucky, they’ll tell you, by actu­ally telling you, or they’ll show it.  If you’re lucky, they’ll come back years later and tell you the effect you had on them. You’re not going to get extrin­sic awards in this job, the way other peo­ple do. It is some­thing you have to have a deep level of faith about, that you are hav­ing an impact. And like I said, you may never know that you are.  So, I think you have to know that as a first year teacher.  At the end of the year in June, you might have them say “thank you”. You might have them tell you they “loved your teach­ing”. They might say noth­ing, and that can’t be a source of dis­cour­age­ment for you.

What’s more impor­tant than this?  Peo­ple can tell you sto­ries of the most dam­ag­ing thing that’s ever hap­pened to them in their life.  I’d say a great major­ity of them have come from idi­otic com­ments that teach­ers have made to them — things that were unfair, judge­men­tal, harsh, or impa­tient that stays with them their whole life.    So, peo­ple don’t die on our job every­day, phys­i­cally, but they die spir­i­tu­ally. So, we have to be aware of that, everyday.

End­ing: What do you want to be when you grow up?