ABSTRACT
Teaching is a very demanding profession and teachers are often faced with stressful, even unfair situations. Backbone teachers, although caring and solid educators, typically have a vision that is limited to their own classroom walls. Great teachers resist the temptation to socialize when they should be supervising. They know the value of interacting with other teachers, and so they treat their colleagues as the second most important group of people in the school. Teaching is hard. Complaining about school-related problems may feel good momentarily, but it does not make the job of teaching any easier. In fact, when negativity spreads, as it easily can, it actually makes the job much harder. Great teachers avoid falling into the trap of complaining. One of the best things about being a teacher is that teaching matters, especially to students. Most students in school are capable of mastering grade-level learning objectives. Students at school consistently behave appropriately.
