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Providing you, the K-12 leader, with the help you need to lead with clarity, credibility, and confidence in a time of enormous change.
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In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
Five Compelling Reasons to Remain in Teaching
This is the time of year when the stresses and strains of teaching can lead educators to contemplate making a change. Certainly, the experiences of the past two years have not made the work any easier or less stressful. Consequently, we can lose perspective, forget what led us to teaching, and overlook the important reasons to remain in this profession.
In the coming weeks, you may be approached for advice by a colleague who is having a “stay or leave” debate with themselves. Without lead time and opportunity to reflect, you may miss the opportunity to remind your colleague of some of the most compelling and enduring reasons for choosing to remain despite the pressures, distractions, and frustrations. If you should find yourself facing this challenge, here are five important truths about teaching you can share.
First, teaching positions us with a front row seat to learning. Learning is among the most complex, magical, and inspiring of human endeavors. It is difficult to imagine more compelling and rewarding experiences than to see “a light go on” as a student makes an important connection, discovers a new insight, or applies a challenging new skill. The “mystery” that is learning challenges us to reflect, imagine, inquire, and even improvise in real time. Few other professions offer such meaningful engagement multiple times each day. Nurturing the learning of students invites us to be learners with and for them.
Second, teaching reminds us that we are needed. We may be the one smile a student will experience in their day. We may be the only consistent advocate they have. The compliments and encouragement we offer may the only support they feel. We have the power to make a student’s day. Often, we are the one person who will make it a day to hope, persist, and celebrate.
Third, teaching positions us to influence the future. Our engagement with students is early in their life trajectory. When our influence leads to even a small change today it can have a life altering impact over time. Some people are experts at predicting the future. Teachers are experts at creating it; one student at a time. We may not know which of our students will discover a cure for a dreaded disease, solve an important world problem, open a local business that keeps a community vital, or serve their community in other important ways, but we know they will. In the words of astronaut Christa McAuliffe: “I touch the future. I teach.”
Fourth, teaching offers pure entertainment every day. In the words of former radio and television host Art Linkletter: “Kids say the darndest things.” His words offer in insight into one of the special treasures of teaching. Students are funny, creative, imaginative, surprising, unscripted, and always bring a fresh perspective. If we need to laugh or smile, we can always recall something a student said or did that was so surprising, unpredictable, or humorous that we cannot help ourselves. It has been said that if teachers do not see humor in their day, they must not be paying attention.
Fifth, teaching allows us to work with friends and kindred spirits. Teachers make great friends. They care. They are dedicated. They work hard. They also are funny, loyal, and dependable. They are ready to offer support and share insights and ideas. Teachers are quick to understand when colleagues are worried or struggle to solve a teaching and learning problem. The fact is that good people tend to be drawn to teaching. They want to make a difference and they understand that one of the best places to contribute is in the lives of young people.
The reasons why a colleague may contemplate making a career change will likely be varied and complex. However, you may be able to provide what they need to be convinced to stay when you remind them of what teaching has to offer and what it means to them.
In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
The "C" quence That Drives Success and Innovation
At some point in our careers each of us has probably experienced the feeling that some element of our practice or the design of our approach is not working, or at least is not working well enough for enough students. We sense that there must be a better approach, a more effective strategy, or a new way of thinking about a persistent problem or unmet need.
We may decide to just keep on keeping on and make the best of what is, or we may choose to explore something different. We may not even know exactly what we are looking for or need, but we resolve to spend some time, give some attention, and dedicate some effort trying to find out.
We need to know where to start and how to find the answers we seek. We may be unsure of what to do when we land on something that seems promising and worth pursuing. We might even wonder if we have what it will take to pursue our idea or strategy to the point where it begins to pay off and provide the benefits we hope.
Fortunately, there is a path, or sequence of thinking and action, we can employ to guide us on this journey. We can follow these four C’s and the sequence they suggest to focus our attention and support our work.
The first C is curiosity. Without curiosity we fail to see opportunities, we ignore promising ideas, and bypass exploitable circumstances. Curiosity leads us to ask more questions, observe more closely, and keep our attention engaged. Without curiosity we are left to respond to what others point out and tell us is important and doable. Curiosity opens the door to possibility.
The second C is confidence. When we feel confident in our skills and abilities, we are freer to take risks, explore options, and move forward before every question is answered. Alternatively, when we doubt and talk negatively to ourselves about our capabilities, we may see opportunities and paths worth pursuing, but hesitate fearing failure and embarrassment. Interestingly, asking ourselves what we would do if we were not afraid can make us aware of what is possible and worthy of our attention and bolster our willingness to act, even when our confidence is not strong.
The third C is commitment. Commitment is our confidence in action. Once we commit, we move from exploring to exploiting opportunities and circumstances. Without commitment, we risk false starts, early abandonment, and lost opportunities. Commitment becomes stronger when we gain clarity about our intentions, set goals for our work, and measure our progress.
The fourth C is courage. The path to success and innovation almost always includes setbacks and experiences that lead us to question our goals, doubt our worthiness, and require us to respond to doubters and skeptics. We might face criticism for choosing to try something new, pursue a different path, or question tradition. Yet, we need to continue to work, learn, and move forward. Remember: Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the choice to act despite it. Courage is what carries us through the final stages of the journey to success.
The path to success and innovation will not always be smooth and easy. Yet, it holds the promise for us to make a difference, leave our practice and profession better than we found it, and provide learners with opportunities that they otherwise would not have experienced. In short, it is more than worth the risk and effort. It may even open doors and create opportunities beyond what we imagine.
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