The school year ebbs and flows like a mountain stream in many respects; student behavior, parental involvement, and administrative decisions are just a few. Educators rarely acknowledge the most important ebb and flow: their passion to be there.
Stop reading and reflect. Think about your school year as a whole and think about how you feel about your profession in this moment.
We'd be silly and naive to say that our passion for education, our job, doesn't change. There are aggressive rapids where it around every bend we careen into a rock and violently get thrown in a different direction. You find yourself lacking support and reacting rather than being proactive. Every moment is a problem solving situation and you're the only one available to put out the flames. Learning objectives and lesson procedural steps are out of sync; activities lack the flow-like characteristic a properly planned lesson should have. It's tough to be in school when you're a salmon always swimming upstream. As a result, your passion is low.
However there are beautiful, serene runs where the school day flows into one continuous productive experience. Your smile becomes the only necessary ingredient to solve a problem and your body language exudes confidence. Students react with unparalleled enthusiasm and your lessons begin planning themselves. You passion to educate is high.
This up and down cycle is natural, and we'll not spend time assigning its cause.
We arguably teach and lead better when our innate passion for education shines through.
How do we get out of a rut? How do we regain our passion when all signs point to a stretch of violent water?
In this post you'll learn a powerful and simple technique to refocus your passion.
