Day 18: I am an Air Traffic Controller.

Day 18: Create a metaphor/simile/analogy that describes your teaching philosophy.

I am an air traffic controller.

This makes me laugh because in eighth grade I thought I wanted to be an air traffic controller, which is pretty much the WORST possible fit for me as a person.

And yet.

Air traffic controllers are trying to guide places that are far from them, over which they have no real control. They offer guidance; pilots must choose to accept it. Likewise, we can guide, nudge, cajole, beg, punish our students in an effort to take them on the path of our choice; however, the path is theirs and if they are going to authentically learn anything, they must engage independently.

Air traffic controllers are making constant on-the-spot decisions. While my on-the-spot decisions are not a matter of life or death, each one has a consequence that I cannot predict. A choice may have no effect on a larger outcome, or it may be the tiny thing that gets a kid back on track. Or off track. Hopefully it doesn't cause a plane crash.

Air traffic controllers are managing flying objects. This is the hopeful part of my metaphor. Students really are true, pure potential. When we can bottle it up and allow ourselves to breathe it in, they are as amazing as planes soaring in the sky. We spend our days in vicarious flight.