Skip to main content

What Motivates You?

The beginning of the school year has blown past us, and there are countless things you probably did to for the group of students that will be entered your classroom.  Setting up your room, completing you management plan, writing lesson plans, contacting prospective students, reviewing curriculum updates, and the list goes on.

All of those are important, but I think there is something that needs to gravitate to the top as you prepare for each year, but also as you navigate through the year.

Find your motivation.

At the end of the year you may have been worn out, wondering if you should return to the classroom.  You may not have been wondering at all, but you may have been completely drained emotionally, intellectually and physically.  No matter what the case may be, think back to why you felt called to this profession.  Is that still your driving force?  Have you lost sight of it?  If you have forgotten what drew you to this calling, try to find ways to bring that clarity back to the forefront.

Teaching and Learning photo of 4 teachers talking with inspirational quote in the background
Image Courtesy of Fraser University


How do you do that?

Any number of strategies might work.  Here are a few possibilities:

  • Read for pleasure.  Find a book, series or topic that is interesting to you and read about it.  Allow your mind to relax and recharge.  That rejuvenation will help you make it through the first few weeks.  Once school starts, it is nonstop for the first few weeks and you barely have time to come up for air.  
  • Read for growth.  If reading for pleasure isn't up your ally, maybe some nonfiction is what you need.  Find a topic applicable to what you do and dig into it more.  Find ideas for the rest of the year or future years that will enable you to be a better educator.  There are no perfect teachers, we all can use some room to grow.   
  • Find some new resources.  These can be online, print, someone in your network or a mentor.  
  • Watch some videos.  This one is multi-faceted.  I think we should do a combination of types of videos.  Some humorous (we all need to laugh), some educational (we all have room to grow), some you may disagree with (challenging thoughts help us clarify our own viewpoints).  
Bottom line, when you start to feel the pressures of the year or coming year impact you and your motivation as a teacher, take a step back an recharge yourself.  Remind yourself why you entered this profession, why you were called to this profession.  

As we approach Thanksgiving, slow down and think about the blessings you have and use that as motivation to see you through some of the challenges you may be facing.  If you need to, make a list of them to serve as a reminder and keep them accessible during those times of frustration.  




Thank you for reading The Cluttered Desk.  You can find me on Twitter @jasonbengs.  Please feel free to comment on the post and share your ideas with me.  You can also leave a response on The Cluttered Desk Flipgrid page if you would like to leave a comment on this or any other post or podcast episode by going to https://flipgrid.com/03fa4e01 If you found any value in this post, please share it with others.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do you need a Philosophy of Education?

When we first start out in education we often think that we know what we're doing. We think that we don't need any help and that everything that we need to know we learned in our education classes. It only takes about three days into the job to realize that our college education did not fully prepare us for every single student that we're going to face. It didn't truly prepare us for how we really should deliver a lesson when we have students on five different levels along with multiple types of disruptions. It didn't prepare us to handle all the routines, all the the daily tasks, all the decisions that we have to make.  This isn't intended to disparage any university program, but just an acknowledgement that there is now way for them to fully prepare you for every student and situation you will face.  Experience is the only true way to learn how to handle all of these different types of situations.  So how do we make up for that information gap? That is a chall...
1 comment
Read more

4 Tools for Creating Instruction Video

Many educators are plunging into creating digital resources as part of their districts plan to continue instruction while school facilities are closed for the remainder of the school year.  If you have not explored this before now, there are several options available to you in a variety of prices and skillset. The tools we suggest will be free or inexpensive and only focus on creating videos that you can share with students later.  There are options for live video conferencing and some of these tools are designed for that, but we are only focusing on video recording.  This type of learning model would best be classified as asynchronous because you are allowing students to work at different times.  This may be the best option since some of your students may have siblings and limited use of technology at their house. Before we get started, please check with your district to see if there are any restrictions on which tools you may use.  There is a possibility that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Monday Minute for January 14

This morning I wanted to share a quit tip for those struggling integrate technology into the classroom.  It is very basic and should be the mantra of tech in your classroom. Don't let the technology drive the lesson. What I mean is the technology should not be what drives your lesson.  The content should always shine above the tech.  The content should always be your primary focus during instruction.  What do you want the students to learn?  How will you know they have learned it? The tech tool should be as ubiquitous as textbooks, pencil and paper and should be thought of in that manner.  After you decide what you are going to teach, next you decide which tool would be will help you to best accomplish that. PIXNIO So what if you are told you need to integrate technology into the classroom and you haven't really done much of that in the past?  Maybe you have a class set of devices you have been told you are going to use in your room and you are feeling...
Post a Comment
Read more