Thursday, August 30, 2012

What is Teacher Fashion?



It is back to school time and I tend to only buy clothes for myself once a year so I made my annual run to Kohls (plug) and the Albertville Outlet mall for some fresh wears. I came out with these, and hey its an Outlet so they were only moderately over priced, but Nikes are Nikes, worth it.


When I was out and about walking into stores seeing high school aged kids ready to spend their parents money I began to think about what a teacher should look like. On that sunny afternoon I looked like an average guy, my jeans were worn but not tattered and my shirt untucked but collared. I started teaching at 22 years old and I do believe that in order to not blend in with the students only 4 years younger then you yes you need to raise the bar, maybe throw on some dress pants. But now I am 27, I don't blend in (thanks grey hair genetics) and I have finally found a solution to the age old "what does a teacher look like" He looks like me. See back in my younger days (young people can have younger days) I used to have 'school clothes' and then 'weekend clothes'. It was a crazy separation but I liked it, I liked pulling my jeans on knowing I didn't have to be a teacher today. (Friday night to Monday morning I was a teacher only if the girl I was chasing at the bar seemed like a philanthropist.) One could go as far to say I put on a uniform, its wasn't natural for me, never fit right, had pen stains on it and mostly outdated. This year, day one will be those fresh kicks above and a pair of slightly worn 514 Levi jeans.

So what has changed? How did I go from the uniform wearing tuck-it-in general I was four years ago to the laid back, this is me take it or leave it teacher today? Did I get lazy? (a bit) Am I fighting the man? (no) Will this cut 4 minutes off my morning prep time? (4 minutes is my morning prep time) So what changed?

The blog-o-sphere. It has infected my life. I still don't know if I'll ever match some of the passion I read from some of the top blog names, but it has taken me from a MON-FRI teacher to an all the time teacher. For better or worse I can no longer take off the uniform Friday night and say "See ya Monday teaching." Once you get hooked into the possibility that everything/every moment is one step away from a dynamic lesson, you can't afford to turn teaching off.

So thanks bloggers, I think.

DISCLAIMER 1: We in the greater 279 district have sat through meeting after meeting of AYP crap that has sucked any energy out of coming back to school. I had but one choice to blog fashion.

DISCLAIMER 2: There are some articles of clothing not appropriate for school (ie co-worker wore this shirt to workshop).