I do believe that there is actually something called “the teacher mindset” even though no such concept has ever officially been studied. Years of working in a classroom changes the way a person looks at the clock, the days of the week and the calendar. Everything in life revolves around the demands of being ready and present for those hours dedicated to instilling knowledge in the students in a teacher’s care. Routines define the “teacher year” which begins in the weeks leading to the new school year and never really ends as one cycle bleeds into another. 

Sunday evenings are always a time of preparation for teachers. In addition to the usual duties of working individuals teachers begin to fret over plans for the coming week, even as they understand the many last minute emergencies and situations that may upend all of the work they have done attempting to stay on track with the scope of sequence of the subjects that they teach. As one of my education colleagues calls it, “the Sunday scaries” are a real thing for those who work in schools as they wonder if they have done enough planning to adjust to whatever happens in the hours that lie ahead. 

We teachers become so attuned to being observant and having alternative ideas for those moments when all of the best laid plans go awry that we sometimes come across as being way too controlling to those who have never been in our shoes when strange happenings upend all of the work that we have done. We are all too aware of the thousands of reasons that our school day may morph into events that were not anywhere in our prognostications. We don’t have just a Plan B but plans that go beyond Z. 

I know for a fact that I have at times annoyed members of my family who have never lived in my work world when I question their preparations for all sorts of things. They accuse me of distrusting them when I note possibilities that will change the course of whatever they have decided to do. My years of experience in an ever changing environment have taught me to be ready for anything and so I fret over the idea that things will always go smoothly. Thus the people around me sometimes accuse me of being bossy or overly anxious and yet when things go south just as I suggested they might I never utter the phrase, “I told you so.”

I am no longer actively working in a school but I do homeschooling two mornings a week and even in that tiny environment I have encountered unexpected situations that have forced me to change gears and save the day. I always need a host of alternatives in my pocket to adapt to the needs of my students which is really just the way that life is. 

A good teacher is always ready with extra pencils and paper and a new plan that looks nothing like the one in that they crafted originally. I knew this to be true whenever I interviewed a prospective employee or asked them to demonstrate their abilities with a lesson that they would present to a group of students. I looked for prospective teachers who would be able to think on their feet.

On one occasion an applicant came ready with an outstanding lesson plan that appeared to be ironclad. The only glitch came when the audiovisual equipment that she needed stopped working in the middle of it all. She demonstrated her mettle when she was able to keep the lesson flowing without interruption changing her entire methodology on the fly to keep the students’ attention. It was a masterful presentation and she indeed proved to be an exceptional educator. 

I have been retired from full time teaching since 2012. I find myself unable to completely let go of my teacher tendencies. I clean my house on Saturday mornings just as I did when I had to use my weekends to tie up the loose ends at home while readying myself for the week ahead. I spend time on Sunday afternoons grading the homework of my homeschoolers and analyzing what direction I need to follow with each of them. I awake early during the week and use the sound of the school bus stopping on my corner as a signal to get going with whatever is commanding me on my calendar. Mine are habits forged over the years but they are not unique. I find them being replicated by all of the young educators that I know. For each of us the seasons are not defined so much by the circuit of the earth around the sun as by the timing of the school year and the list of skills and knowledge that we have a limited time to convey to those in our care. 

Perhaps we come across as arrogant “know it alls” but that behavior is baked into our teacher DNA. We know that very few of our days go as initially planned so we have learned to be ready even as we look weeks ahead to be certain that when the last bell rings we have done our utmost to reach every person who sat before us waiting to partake of our attempts to prepare them for the world that they will one day enter as adults. Ours is a task that cannot be left to chance.