The Bad Teacher

My name is McKenna McDonnell and I’m a bad teacher. Not in the, “revoke her license” kind of way but in the “I care more about students’ emotional well-being than I do their test scores.” I want to check in with students and I want them to know I genuinely care about them. I don’t care how they make me look on paper with their test scores, I don’t care if they do their homework once a school year. I care about them. The little humans that they are turning into. And people hate that about me. I cannot tell you how many of my colleagues have either straight up told me or made it clear in their actions how much they disapprove of my teaching philosophy. But really that’s okay, because they’re not the ones sitting behind a desk in my classroom. If my students remember 1 thing about my english curriculum and 10 things about being a good person when they leave my classroom at the end of the school year? Well, that’s a win.

I have two degrees. I’d have more if I could afford it honestly. I’m what people would call a serial student. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education with a minor in English and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. The actual act of teaching is something I enjoy, obviously. But coming up with the curriculum and the lesson and activity ideas? That is my jam. When I went back to get my Master’s, my original plan was to become a curriculum developer. But I got the opportunity to be an Instructional Coach at the middle school I was working at and that’s when I realized what my true passion was. But we’ll get to that later.

I have spent the entirety of my teaching career at middle schools in low socioeconomic areas in my hometown. I have seen and heard things you would never believe are real. Horror stories that 12, 13, and 14 year old children should not be experiencing. I’ve lost several students to gang violence, and been in situations where I was actually afraid for my own life. But, and this is probably where you’ll call me crazy, I LOVE it. I love teaching hormonally emotional preteens how to be better humans, I love having breakthroughs and meaningful conversations with 13 year olds that have more life experience than half the adults I know.

After seven years of teaching and two degrees I wanted to try something new. An opportunity to be the Instructional Coach at the current middle school I was working at opened up and I jumped on it. I got to spend the entire year helping novice teachers get a real handle on what they were doing inside their classrooms. I got to be helpful and be a guide and a confidant to some of the most amazing educators I have had the pleasure of knowing. That’s when I discovered what my real passion was. I wanted to help teachers love the profession as much as I did. I wanted to motivate young adults to build relationships with students before they ever worried about what their SLO or test scores proved of who they are as teachers. So I did. I spent the year leading a novice seminar and standing in as an interim Dean of Students. It was the most exhausting yet rewarding year of my life.

Here’s the real kicker… at the end of this past school year? I quit. I quit teaching public school because as much as I absolutely love it, I love my family more. I love being a teacher but I love being a mother more. Focusing so much of my time and energy on other people’s kids and other people’s careers started taking away from my own kids and time with my family. I couldn’t do it anymore. So I quit public school and became a privately contracted teacher for a home school pod. It’s very different from what I’ve done for the better part of a decade, but it’s still awesome.

However, sometimes I find myself thinking of how much I miss the chaos of those public school days. How much I miss the opportunity to help novice teachers get a better handle on their careers in their first years teaching. So I’ve decided to make this blog where I will cover all things bad teacher. From my experiences while I was teaching in public school, to my experiences as an instructional coach. I’ll post lesson ideas and discuss my stance on how engagement is directly correlated with student behavior. I’ll answer questions and recommend books that helped me survive my time in the field. I have all kinds of tips and tricks on how to be the most amazing teacher you can possibly be even if you’re what some people may call a bad teacher. Come along for the ride!