I have come up with 13 ground rules for myself in this profession. Because I have no central space, because I’m not “grounded” so to speak, in a particular setting or community, it’s imperative that I’m grounded in myself. I am the only consistent factor in the work I do and over the past few years I have discovered some basic ground rules that I need to adhere to to be the kind of person and teacher I want to be.

1) Take care of yourself.
Take care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Do what you need to do, when you need to do it to ensure that you are healthy on all fronts. Treat yourself with kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, and understanding.

2) Be present.
Pay attention to what is happening around you. Truly attend.

3) Know thyself.
Be as aware as possible about your own insecurities, your biases, and prejudices, and do your best to catch and acknowledge them before they manifest.

4) Treat everyone with respect.
Treat everyone the way you would like to be treated.

5) Never. Blame. The kids.
I heard a professor of mine say this once and it really resonated with me.

5) Don’t gossip.
Don’t gossip about kids or adults. For any reason. Really. Truly. Even the little stuff that you try to rationalize. Don’t say anything behind someone’s back that you would not be willing to say to their face.

6) Don’t say things you don’t mean.
Don’t engage in anything false: false modesty, insincere praise, promises you can’t keep etc…

7) Respect your profession.
You needn’t convince anyone of anything. You needn’t moan and groan about how the arts are undervalued - just respect what you do, do it thoughtfully and with care, and everything will fall into place.

9) Only put your energy and efforts toward improving a situation.
Stop and ask yourself ‘is what I’m about to do going to improve the situation for everyone involved?’ If not, refrain.

10) Check your ego at the door.
Don’t let your ego get in the way of any interaction, be it with students, classroom teachers, principals, administrators, site personnel….
Do however, unapologetically stand up for what you believe in.

11) Be your student’s arts advocate.
In the same way classroom teachers often advocate for their students time when it comes to math and language arts, and reading specialists advocate for their students when it comes to literacy, you advocate for them when it comes to the arts. It’s your responsibility to ensure that they have access to an arts education, regardless of how they are perceived to be doing in other subjects.

12) Thank challenging students for helping to make you a better teacher.
In your heart and mind, thank particularly challenging students for their presence, for helping you to cultivate your patience, and for making you a better teacher.

13) If you don’t want to teach anymore, stop teaching.
If you start to feel burnt out, or if you start to feel like there are more negative aspects to your job than positive ones, or if it just stops feeling like what you should be doing right now, simply stop doing it.