--- title: Education: 5 Lessons for Teachers in a New School Year description: To be a great teacher, you must be a constant learner canonical: https://time.com/4019208/lessons-for-teachers-in-a-new-school-year/ author: Rabbi David Wolpe article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-02T16:43:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:57.618Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Education: 5 Lessons for Teachers in a New School Year og:description: To be a great teacher, you must be a constant learner og:url: https://time.com/4019208/lessons-for-teachers-in-a-new-school-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Education: 5 Lessons for Teachers in a New School Year twitter:description: To be a great teacher, you must be a constant learner twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 5 Lessons for Teachers in a New School Year > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=5f15863d-a643-4cd1-b67c-7a74f1a97814&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Teaching Tech in High School [Watch (HLS stream): Teaching Tech in High School](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/M6bkzP0I.m3u8) (3:20)  _Published 2015-08-20. Apex High School helps students get ahead by teaching in-demand technology skills in the classroom._ by [Rabbi David Wolpe](https://time.com/author/rabbi-david-wolpe/) ## Rabbi David Wolpe Sep 2, 2015 4:43 PM UTC by [Rabbi David Wolpe](https://time.com/author/rabbi-david-wolpe/) ## Rabbi David Wolpe Sep 2, 2015 4:43 PM UTC For 20 years I have spoken to teachers preparing to return to the classroom to teach. Having been a teacher in the classroom for many years myself (and the word “Rabbi” means teacher), here are five messages for teachers as the year begins. **1\. Embrace self-renewal.** Many people think of stamina as running off of your original charge, like a battery that gradually depletes. But in fact, a marathon is not one long race but a series of short races strung together. You have to re-motivate at various points along the way to make it to the finish line. To be a great teacher, you must be a constant learner. Make a reading list, join a digital professional community, try a new strategy, and build high points into the year to re-excite yourself and therefore your students. **2\. Aim for adults.** We are not trying to make “good kids.” We are trying to shape thoughtful, ethical adults. Helping students master content is critical, of course. Yet what we teach will ultimately matter less than who we are. As Ted Sizer, an education-reform advocate, liked to say, “They watch us all the time. They listen to us, sometimes.” The teacher’s example is more lasting than any instruction. **3\. Be tolerant of misbehavior.** Misbehavior arises from spirit as often as from defiance. Some of the most lively and gifted children are those who cannot sit still, consistently focus, or behave the way they are instructed. Taking a tolerant, large view helps avoid the frustration that attributes misbehavior to willfulness alone. You cannot avoid setting limits on behavior, but you can sidestep judgment on character. **4\. Understand that impact takes time.** You do not know—you may never know—the impact you are having on a student. Every teacher has had the experience of being approached by a student years later who says, “You know, I will never forget when you said to me that I had done well” or some such comment. The teacher may have forgotten—she may not even remember the student. But don’t feel frustrated by lack of immediate response in the classroom. Meaning drops slowly into people’s hearts, and it may take years for the seed to bear fruit. **5\. Know you’re following a noble calling.** Yes, it is true that society does not pay teachers commensurate with the value we claim to place on teaching. But it is also true that job satisfaction has a very weak [connection](https://hbr.org/2013/04/does-money-really-affect-motiv/) to the amount of money we make. We are moved by meaning. Everyone wants to know that what they do matters and can make an impact in the world. There nothing is more powerful than a teacher. When the famed Kotzker Rebbe went back to his town as a renowned religious figure, he sought out the man who had taught him the alphabet to thank him. No one, he said, was more influential—what this man taught him was the basis of all he had later accomplished. A teacher who inspires a student changes the course of a life and in infinite ripples, untold other lives. The classroom is the incubator of the future. Teachers help us realize the dreams we have for our children and enable our children to shape the world they will inherit. ## Transcript You can be the smartest person in the room but if you don't know how to communicate your ideas it's really not going to take you very far. With AOIT we work on a team, get our ideas across, then present it in a professional manner. This is the Academy of Information Technology, it is an IT technology themed academy, where students go through four years of high school classes. And that technology is integrated into their core classes also. It's important for high school students to learn STEM skills, programming skills, because there are a huge number of analytics- based jobs in the workplace. And there are not enough people to fill them. And so we are taking high school students, freshmen. We're trying to get people skilled up in STEM subjects at every level. [ MUSIC ] There are two primary tracks in AOIT. One is a web development, video production track. The other track is a computer programming track. The students are grouped together at the beginning of their freshman year, and they kinda stay together in these classes so they become Familiar with each other. But they also form bonds that they're gonna keep for the next four years. Anyways he really gives you the backbone to be able to work on a team, resolve conflicts, be able to get things done. And really teaches you leadership skills to make sure everyone is held accountable. The sense of professionalism that we get is part of AOIT. The networking skills we develop, the communication skills that we develop, I think that's one of the biggest things that AOIT has to offer. All of our students have to do a work based learning experience, and what's happening is the businesses are coming to see that our students, because of the soft skills preparation I will offer them value. So here at SAS we are in the process of building our intern program really for the pipeline of future talent into the organization. And we're seeing the AOIT students as building that pipeline for us and bringing in that new, innovative, fresh thought from students that's really helping us take our worker [ UNKNOWN ] to the next level. With AOIT and the soft skills I developed I was able to actually land an internship here for two years and currently I will be a year round student throughout college. I'm given the opportunity to work throughout the year. I can make my own hours and still contribute to SAS. One of the really good things that we've seen is that some of the soft skills that they teach them at the high school, I think really enable them to communicate well. And that really helps us because we can get going fast on projects and give them work to do. It's pretty amazing. I'm interning at NC New Schools through my programming classes that I've taken. And just like Working with other people. I've been able to bounce ideas off of Megan, my other coworker, and understand the basic building blocks of what I'm trying to learn here. It's been really great to be able to know I'm doing meaningful work and to see the progression throughout. To start a project and to finish it and to see how it actually goes from start to end. I do feel like I have a little bit of a leg up, I know a lot of people don't have this kind of experience. So, just having that understanding of the fact that there is a program out here like this and just giving a head start to kids who have the chance of doing it, definitely helps with my future career goals. 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