As an educator have you ever seen these scenarios play out in your school?
After teaching for a few years Mrs. Smith become more and more frustrated with the less and less control over what she could do in her classroom yet was being held more and more accountable for the outcomes. She is now a loan officer at the bank but still enjoys teaching money management workshops at the YMCA…
After being a rising star as a well loved teacher Mr. Smith becomes increasingly negative about the profession. He doesn’t understand the changes that are being and becomes frustrated with his administration He lets his health go and has less energy to be dynamic in his classroom and falls back more and more on the path of least resistance as a teacher. This gives his students the impression he has given up and doesn’t care anymore, they react by rebelling constantly which feeds his frustration and negativity. He is now avoided by the new teachers because they still want to enjoy what they are doing every day…
It seems like there may be a solution to this cycle of frustration in education. Fortunately every lock has a key and the key to professional success as a teacher is to become a student again.
Small steps in the right direction can have a massive positive impact on you professional and personally. I am a fan of stories that demonstrate this because they bring hope that a person can take intentional, disciplined steps and reap a harvest of good in their life beyond what they imagined. You can too!
Lets look at a guiding principle in this, the 80/20 rule also known as the Pareto Principle.
It states that for many events roughly 80% of the events come from 20% of the causes. For example 80% of sales typically come from 20% of customers or 80% of the income in a country is generally earned by the top 20% of income earners. Even school reformers understand this principle and are asking schools to focus their SMART goals on the most important student learning needs.
So how can I use this rule to my advantage in the classroom?
Let me first just say that this is an intuitive rule, not something to be analyzed to death. The big idea is to identify the most troubled area in your professional experience (the low hanging fruit) and make small, intentional changes (pick the fruit) and then assess the impact the small changes made (count the fruit). Simple.
Here are a few examples
1. Sleepy teaching.
Problem: I feel tired everyday after lunch so I don’t teach with the same dynamic spirit as before lunch.
Small Change: Drink 32 ounces of water through the morning. I was tired because I wasn’t stopping to get a drink and I was becoming dehydrated. You could throw in taking a nutritional supplement at lunch or a 5-Hour Energy, whatever.
Assessment: Ask the students, Do you think I am more or less energetic than yesterday? You can even make this some sort of lesson, you are creative.
If this works you’ve now reclaimed half your work day and your students will be more engaged in class. You can also teach them this principle and encourage them to drink some water after lunch if they are tired to perk up.
2. Frustrated with professional development opportunities.
Problem: You know specific things you would like to learn about but are frustrated with not having time or these topics not being offered by your principle in the staff workshops at school.
Small Change: Send an email to your peers asking if they are having the same issue and if they are interested in doing a little research with you. Quite often you will find some one else has already done the heavy lifting if you are willing to humble yourself and ask for help. If no one has a solution a study group can be effective because if you organize it someone else will likely do the research and you can simply get together and share.
Assessment: Did you find a big solution for little time and effort? Can you track it within your gradebook? Maybe the question was how to engage the kids who have zero interest in your subject. Identify those 5-10 kids and apply the solution and then talk to them afterward about what they thought of it. Who knows, you might have an opportunity to lead a workshop with your new insights helping other teachers!
3. Overwhelmed by the negative climate created by your peers.
Problem: Lets face it, the Teacher’s Lounge can be a pretty negative place where teachers vent and then feed off each other’s complaints building to a crescendo everyday of blaming the DOE, administration, the President, the kids, the parents, the weather, etc. The biggest impact isn’t in the Teacher’s Lounge it’s in the attitude you might carry afterwards walking into your classroom again. Let’s face it, the world is as we see it and if you just got done hearing an earful about what a rotten kid Johnny is you are likely only going to see him that way. We cannot help but be influenced by what people say if we are not careful to keep it in context.
Small Changes: Keep a journal of the good things you are seeing in your student’s development and in your classroom. Make a point to greet your toughtest kids at the door and talk to them a little, this can go a long way in their classroom engagement. Try to talk less to that Debbie Downer (no offense to the very optimistic Debbie’s out there!). Build a Code Red box to open up on those really tough days when you are ready to go sell insurance. It should include encouraging letters you’ve received from student’s and parents, your favorite chocolate bar, an encouraging card to yourself, or a gift card to your favorite restaurant you would like to go to that evening as a little gift to yourself for doing a great job.
Another small change frankly can be changing your perspective of the job by simply asking better questions about it. I find Michael Hyatt provides a great introduction to this topic in his podcast and I would highly recommend it.
Another change is also provided by Michael Hyatt and it addresses the topic of purpose. Sometimes we don’t enjoy our jobs simply because we aren’t finding much purpose in it. I would recommend you walk through Hyatt’s Life Plan tool to find out if what you are doing is in fact in line with your passions and gifts.
Daniel Pink addresses the topic of what drives us at TED, I find this to be a helpful look into my own motivations.
Assessment: Just ask yourself, do you feel better about your career? Are you gaining your motivation to do the job in excellence back?
I hope this has helps you begin thinking about the impact small changes in your personal and professional development can have on your motivation, impact on the students and how much you enjoy the job!
Have you found small changes that have helped you in the classroom?
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Great list of classroom blogs. Blogging with your students, if done well, can create classroom magic!
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