On the Cool Teacher.

There is no such thing as a cool teacher. Anyone who tries to be is automatically uncool for trying. A good teacher doesn’t care what the students think of him. He isn’t here to be liked or to be popular. This isn’t an opportunity to make up for being unpopular in high school. Wanting to be liked by high-schoolers is pathetic. To all would-be Cool Teachers: why do you want to teach? Is it so that the students can learn something? Do you want to make a difference in these kids’ lives? If you want to have the maximum possible impact, then, for god’s sake, have them working bell to bell. Enforce your rules consistently. Throw out any possibility of them liking you. Give em hell. Realize that if you give them an inch, they[‘ll take a mile.
The students don’t need another friend. They have friends already. You are not their peer. You are not on the same level as them. You are an authority figure, and, as such, your job is to force them to succeed—to do whatever you can to make them produce the work, learn the material, master the objectives. If you’re good at that, I can promise you, they won’t like you at first.
“Aww, Ms. Savage, why we always gotta work up in here?” It’s the sweetest phrase I’ve ever heard as a teacher. To me, that meant that I was successful. And they thought I was too mean at first, and they thought I was too strict, and I was definitely NOT a cool teacher. But they came around, and at the end of the year, I believe they were grateful for the working environment and the responsibility I demanded of them.
The thing is, anyone who cares what high school students think is automatically uncool anyway. I mean, grow up. They‘re just kids. I revel in my dorkyness. It’s the only kind of punk rock there is. I don’t care if they think I’m cool or not. I’m untouchable. Coolness is being so self assured, not caring what people think. Like the Tao, it’s like water. If you try to hold onto it, it will slip through your hands.