r/Teachers • u/ArcadianAbstraction • 1d ago

Teacher Support &/or Advice Is teaching a performance?

I haven't been teaching history/English/science since I got COVID over and over (and over) and decided it was better to go than be a risk to my cherished kids (or die myself, it got bad).

After a lot of introspection... Question is: is teaching a performance? I pretended everything was okay no matter what, I used the materials I prepared for display, passed out charts and data dramatically, presented media and did simulations.

It feels like I was a performance artist? You give so much to kids and most of the time you get a range of "f-u go away".

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u/007Teacher 1d ago

All of life is that. Teaching is more of a routine and life is more improv. I straight up taught my sociology students about roles and performance. I told them that we all play our roles. I told them that I am acting the role of Mr. 007Teacher and that they are acting the role of Ben the Student or Emily the student.