Riding the Wave. Jeremy S. Adams

      INTRODUCTION

      Resilience accommodates the unexpected.

      —JOHN LEWIS GADDIS

      At the high school where I have spent my entire career, there was a brief period during which the students would not stop pulling the fire alarms. Every few days, multiple buildings on campus would have to evacuate for ten minutes or so. As one can imagine, this was disruptive and tiresome for everyone involved. Teachers got behind on their schedules, students were interrupted during tests, and the administration grew frustrated with clearing buildings that were not on fire. Eventually, the school installed security cameras in the hallways, and the problem quickly went away. But when the pulled alarms were still a problem, the students would invariably ask me, “Mr. Adams, if our building was really going up in flames and you could take only one object or possession, what would it be?”

      I thought hard. There were many candidates. I desperately love my books. My diplomas would be difficult to replace. I would certainly miss the bust of Socrates that I bought in Athens if it was lost to a fire. But nothing approaches the importance of one particular file in my classroom cabinet that gets larger as the years go on. It contains all the letters written to me by current and former students. I suspect most teachers keep similar files in their classrooms.

      My students are my life’s work—my magnum opus. Since the task of a teacher is not creation but guidance and inspiration, these letters are the closest thing I will ever have to a painting, a symphony, or a sculpture. Whenever I’m having a bad day or going through a rough patch in my career, I open the file and read a letter written to me long ago. These letters and the sentiments they express remind me why I teach young minds.

      These letters often act as flotation devices for my teacher morale, and I suspect they also serve this purpose for other teachers who hold on to these writings. We reach for these letters because teachers’ jobs are getting harder as we move through the 21st century. The endless cycle of change in education places considerable stress on classroom teachers’ everyday lives. The sources of change are numerous and diverse in content, and the changes seem to come in all forms and from all directions. They are often curricular, cultural, administrative, parental, and technological—just to name a few!

      These changes affect every facet of our profession: the way we teach our classes, the way we communicate with parents and the broader public, the way we approach professional development and interact with colleagues and administrators, and so on. Unlike those who have professions that carry great stability and continuity of policy and expectation, teachers work in a professional space of perpetual disorientation. About the only constant is change itself—which is why this book will foster teachers’ resilience and morale in the face of this change.

      In the book, we’ll explore how teachers can recognize and adapt to the changes that characterize the world of education, strengthen the relationships they’ve built within it, and actually thrive in their roles. Later in the introduction, I’ll also explain how the book’s unique structure can help readers home in on the concerns that are most relevant to them. This way, readers can—in a manner that suits how they learn and where they are in their careers—ensure that the classroom remains the chief place for transformative learning experiences and that they find hope and purpose at the center of it all.