A perfect teacher — is it one who is never late or one who never makes a mistake?
“I think a perfect teacher is a teacher who is reliable and shows up; [one] who demonstrates knowledge of their subject and knows how to explain it, but I think the most important part of a perfect teacher is establishing relationships with their students,” Angie Tauer, English teacher, said.
Andi Husted, English teacher, agrees that a pivotal part of being a teacher is their effect on the students. They explain that their
perfectionist mindset sometimes causes them to lose that focus.
“I am a super top notch ruler follower. I get super annoyed when my colleagues don’t follow the rules and sometimes that part of my personality will get in the way of trying to do what’s best for my kids. That is the part I really have to focus on more. I want to keep trying to be better in that area,” Husted said.
Although perfection may look different for each teacher, Husted believes that striving for it should be a goal for everyone.
“I think everyone, no matter what your job [or] role is, we should all aspire to be the very best we can and if that means being perfect in how we interact with people, create lessons, or how we teach our students, we should always aspire to that,” Husted said.
On the other hand, Tauer speaks on how they view perfection differently. They explain that the word can almost be a restriction instead of a goal.
“When you are trying to shoot for perfection and you think you’ve reached it, where do you go from there? Where do you grow?” Tauer asked.
The word perfection can hit close to home for some individuals. Math teacher, Luke Zuroske, shares their personal experience regarding how it has impacted them.
“I will say there are times where I strive for it, but sometimes I strive for it, and I’ll beat myself up a little bit because I’m not there, which I should not expect myself to be there being a young teacher who is still figuring everything out,” Zuroske said. “Most teachers are their own biggest critics, and they will always know what they messed up on, and they will work to improve it. I think what I need to understand is that perfection is not an obtainable goal and to reach for better instead.”
Since perfection is a subjective word, individuals have to figure out if this goal makes them more or less successful.
“There are times that [perfection] is not beneficial for me to seek it because I will be too hard on myself and I won’t make it constructive. I think it is wonderful to seek it out if you do it in a constructive way and where you are not mad at yourself for not
being there,” Zuroske. “I’ve seen myself do both where seeking for perfection has allowed me to improve in areas very quickly, but I’ve also seen it where it has hampered me, and I’ll be super down on myself for not being perfect.”
Perfection — a many-sided word. Through the diverse ways people define this word, this is how teachers within the school view and apply the concept to their lives.
