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Linda Smerge
Linda Smerge

 

Illinois Teacher of the Year Linda Smerge
provides wisdom on teaching at alma mater

September 14, 2099

by Mark McGowan

Linda Smerge is a well-educated woman.

She holds three degrees from NIU: Two are in education – a bachelor’s in elementary education and a master’s in early childhood education – and the third is a juris doctorate. She practiced transactional law for 13 years in Chicago, guiding her clients through complex retail and commercial real estate transactions.

But when Smerge felt the classroom beckoning her to return – she had taught second-grade and kindergarten before her legal career – she followed her heart.

Now she’s the 2009 Illinois Teacher of the Year; her students have posted school-record scores on the ISAT test, with 95 percent meeting or exceeding standards in math and 90 percent meeting or exceeding standards in reading.

Of course, these pedestals mean little when a young girl throws up on Smerge’s sleeve. Or when another girl empties her bursting-at-the-seams bladder on the floor where Smerge is standing.

Smerge, who teaches at Wilson School in Cicero, is now on a year-long journey around Illinois and throughout the nation as an educational ambassador. She visited NIU’s campus Friday morning to talk to dozens of pre-service teachers about “10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Teaching.”

Her speech included plenty of personal anecdotes and sage quotes about the teaching profession, including this one from Richard Elmore: “Teaching is not rocket science. It is, in fact, far more complex and demanding work than rocket science.”

“Linda is such a wonderful, bright person,” said Deborah Fransen, assistant to the dean in the NIU College of Education. “She’s someone who’s really got a passion for teaching and for students and who has great advice to give.”

“Trust me, I’ve been where you’ve been,” Smerge told the audience. “If you’re coming into teaching because you think it’s easy, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

Friday’s message opened with a thought from Robert Marzano, a leading researcher in education: Compared to any other factor, the quality of a classroom teacher has the greatest impact on student learning. To wit, students who rank in the 50th percentile can rise to the 96th or fall by a third within two years, depending on their teachers.

It’s a humbling amount of power, she said: Teachers have the responsibility to love and respect both their jobs and their students. With that will come “never-ending growth,” she added.

Smerge’s Top 10

10. Collegiality

  • Always treat the school secretary, nurse and custodian with respect.
  • Know your strengths as well as those of your colleagues.
  • Find common ground and work together.

9. Flexibility

  • Be willing and able to make changes and do it with a smile.
  • Learn the hierarchy of the school administration and personnel.
  • Turn in paperwork on or before time.

8. Empathy

  • Understand and embrace your school population and culture(s).
  • Show interest in student activities.
  • “Even on your worst day, you’re a student’s best hope” – Larry Bell

7. Respect

  • Show the respect you expect. Establish a system of positive behavior on the first day, and then “praise them, praise them, praise them.” Singling out well-behaved children as models is more constructive than shouting at children who are misbehaving.
  • Find ways to communicate and connect to parents. Teachers should tell parents everything about their children – “the good, the bad and the ugly,” Smerge said – and ask parents to write (and provide) letters of “a million words or less” about their children.
  • Find ways to connect to students. Have special greetings or ways to command their attention, such as “1,2,3, all eyes on me” or even a silly phrase such as,“spaghetti and meatballs.”

6. Patience

  • Students who are hardest to love need your love the most.
  • Keep your “power” in perspective: “Your students are going to listen to everything you say,” she said.

5. Team sport

  • Do not isolate yourself in your classroom. “If you do,” she said, “I guarantee you will burn out and leave the teaching profession.”
  • Cutting edge of teaching as a team sport
  • Set worthy goals for yourself, as a grade level team and as a school and reflect often on your progress.

4. Creativity

  • Don’t be married to one specific teaching strategy or textbook.
  • Explore resources regularly.
  • Seek professional growth opportunities.

3. Sense of humor

  • Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself.
  • Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
  • Learn jokes appropriate for your field or subject.

2. Amnesia

  • Learn to let go – don’t be a garbage truck hauling baggage around with you.
  • Every day is a fresh start for students.

1. Self-care

  • Know your needs and make sure they are met.
  • As much as possible, leave school at school.
  • Adopt a hobby and give yourself permission to enjoy it.