By JESSE SCACCIA & ALISTAIR BOMPHRAY
Maybe the absolute worst advice an older teacher ever gave me was to not smile the entire fall term of my first year.
“You’re young,” she rasped, her menthol-coated lungs straining to push the words out. “You’ve got to show them that you’re tough. In the spring maybe, next year, then you can smile.”
What a load of pigeon poo poo.
When the students see you smiling as they enter the room they believe they’re entering a happy place.
When the attendance sheet is late or the photocopy machine is broken, and you react with a smile, they’ll see that you’re not one to get lost in the details.
When that first piranha of a student nips at you, and you turn to him and smile, the kids will realize you’re different. You, you’re not one of the new teachers that they can break.
Slap me upside the head and call me Richard Simmons, but gosh darn if smiles aren’t actually contagious. As the center of gravity in the room, the power source of energy, you can physically lower the weight of the air just by smiling.
Try it. You’ll see.
As the man said, laugh and the world laughs with you.
I do admit that the cynical teacher has a point, to some degree. Discipline will be one of your biggest challenges your first year, and a stern face can mean business. But seriously. Life is hard enough without forcing a scowl from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm five days a week.
Smile, I say, and let the chips fall where they may.
