A Month In..Inside the Mind of a Teacher

1. Stress Begins To Resonate

The school year is underway. Your goals for the year still look promising but have not quite taken off like you had hope. Unforeseen issues arise. Disagreement with administrative decisions impact your job performance. An angry parent clouds your judgement. You don’t have time for half of what you are asked to do. Stress begins to settle in. What to do? The events that lead to stress are momentary speed bumps. Falling behind on work, lack of progress on personal goals, and rough days last only as long as you will allow it. In order to combat daily stress, you have to look at the ‘big picture’ and find an avenue to destress on a regular basis. Make exercise, reflection, and fun a priority in your life. Being able to release momentary stress will prevent it from consuming your mindset.

2. Failure To See the Obvious

Teachers have the ultimate goal of seeing their students grow into life-long learners and well-rounded citizens. This drive is the catalyst of all the decisions that educators make. This mindset of teachers often gets challenged by a weird phenomenon.. a failure to see what is right in front of them. Teachers often become discouraged by the end of the first month because they view their methods and teaching style as not being impactful enough. They will vent in frustration about how they are not seeing their students’ progress to the level they desire. What to do? This trap that we fall into can often be avoided by five minutes of reflection a day. During these weaker moments, we often need a colleague or mentor to highlight what is going right. Find a positive PLN to fall back on when needed to maintain the clarity to see what is right in front of us. All it takes is five minutes of someone reminding you of the impact you have made on your students so far.

3. Overreaction It is at this time of year that we start to overreact. Whether it a new policy, additional responsibilities, or more intensive demands, educators can often overreact and fight change.

There is nothing wrong with this. This is a common reaction by a majority of people around the world. What is significant about overreaction is that our response is noticed by others, including our students. An educator who overreacts to change cannot expect their students to handle change any better when we place them in the same situation. What to do? A colleague of mine recently went through a big change in responsibility based on some changes I made in the building. On the day the staff member found it, I could sense the frustration and processing occurring. For the rest of the day, the staff member was quiet and appeared disengaged. The next day, the individual walked into my office and told me about the their ability to process the change and is willing to do what is best for the students. After a great conversation, the individual has prospered so far in their new role and maintains a growth mindset. Their approach was to not overreact, but to simply take the time they needed to get in the right frame of mind and then take the steps necessary to make an impact. "