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Is Presentation More Important Than Substance?
I’m very much against putting on a show.
As a teacher, there’s a tendency to try to do something different and do what you think your bosses want to see when they walk by. There’s a tendency to want the people you serve, the kids, to act differently when administrators walk by too.
I fell into this trap my first year of teaching because I thought it would reflect poorly on me if my students were having off-task conversations or not in their seats when someone walked by. After all, I didn’t want my bosses to think less of me.
But now, I want administrators to see my class at its worst and provide feedback to my biggest areas of growth. That has made me a much better teacher than seeing my class when everything is going like it’s supposed to and when I feel like a “good teacher.”
I want to feel like I have the substance of someone who’s good at their jobs, not the presentation of it.
I think the tendency to value presentation over substance is present in every profession, or in every sector of life.
In some places, it’s valid. We clean up our houses when guests come over, and for those of us on the messier side, it’s valid to want a better…
