How to Love Being a Teacher

Hey, Teachers!

Are you wondering how to love teaching again?

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This Valentine's Day is a perfect time to reflect upon how to LOVE classroom teaching (whether in-person or online) when we feel we're just tolerating the job most days.

How can you remedy feelings of discouragement, pain, worry, self-doubt, apathy, and disinterest in being a teacher? How can we learn to love teaching again? ❤️

Begin the journey of rekindling your passion for teaching, even in the most trying of circumstances, with THESE THREE QUESTIONS:

1. ❤️ ASK YOURSELF: WHY DID I BECOME A TEACHER?

      Good teachers want to teach. They can't be stopped no matter how "down about school" they get. Despite the increasing challenges, demands, and fears we face each year, teachers who choose to "stay in" are motivated to continue working with children for the long haul. Teachers who "really want to be there" have an ability to transcend the discordance and pain, and focus on the reason they go to work: students.

     The opportunity of positive influence. With every single learner.

     Good teachers don't let ANYTHING disrupt that relationship.

     Where are you in this process? Do you want to be more motivated? Do you love to inspire? Do you become excited at the start of each school year? How far are you willing to let environmental, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, policies, money, and depleting experiences destroy that original "desire to inspire" goal that led you to your degree program? (Or did you land a teaching job a different way?) Regardless of how you secured your teaching position, your reasons for being a teacher affect what you're doing in the classroom.

    The WHY behind good teaching centers on loving the art of teaching. That doesn't mean good teachers don't question their roles, get discouraged, cry, or vent about problems, but they practice something we need to start treasuring and acting upon more: resilience.

     The love of teaching is inherent. How we identify with the word "teacher" affects how much we love the experience of building bridges between our learners and the curriculum.

     ✅ Self-check: Is teaching a job, a responsibility, an opportunity, or a mix of all three for you?

     If you became a teacher because you truly believed you could positively influence young minds, YOU STILL CAN.

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2. ❤️ ASK YOURSELF: WHAT LED ME TO THIS NEGATIVE SPACE?

     If you're 100% sure it's time to quit, you could be right...

     But what if you're not??

     What if there's something more you could control in your work environment to change or reframe the belief that you'll "never enjoy this job again"? 

      A number of events can send us into a downward spiral. These include students who aren't listening or who threaten us, bad policies and laws that leave us so stripped of autonomy we wonder how we'll ever teach with more meaningful curriculum, time mismanagement, administrative targeting, the feeling that we're giving so much of ourselves we have nothing left for our families, or poor evaluations that seem to tell us we're "no good" at the job.

      Every teacher who makes it to retirement has experienced one or more of these events. No one has a slate so clean that teaching never hurt or included massive growing pains. 

      It's how we deal with those negative spaces that makes the difference alongside our true "desire to inspire". If you want to stay in the game and really want to love this profession again, cleaning up all the negativity that you've been drowning in is essential. 

      It's a mindset choice. 

      You might feel like you're in a sewer, especially if there's no respect and little support in your teaching world.

      Or you might be right in the eye of the storm wanting nothing but escape.

      Too many storms might feel insurmountable, but there are ways to restore balance. In dealing with negative circumstances or the ultimate mundane of routines, the strongest teachers recognize that storms pass--and the mundane is separate from good teaching. And they don't let the current bad situation (or current difficult supervisors) obliterate the good. They have a framework for thinking about the "rough stuff" and don't let storms consume them.

     ✅ Self-check: Are you letting the storm consume you?

     School has become an unhealthy, violent, and troubling place for many of us. How can you bring light to that space? Hope? Something different than what your colleagues are ruminating about in the lunchroom?

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3. ❤️ ASK YOURSELF: WHAT...AND HOW DO I TEACH? 

     Some of us have more autonomy than others in curriculum decisions, lesson planning, and assessment, depending on the state, subject, grade, and interests.  If you don't love WHAT you're teaching, or you don't know HOW to teach it effectively because students aren't responding to your daily efforts, then maybe it's time to revisit where you can make some changes.

     And teachers who choose to stay in the saddle tap into that awesome opportunity to create and teach others how to create, even with the most basic resources or bare bones of limitations.

     In your own personal history, who worked against the odds or believed in you when others didn't? This is the foundation of every caring teacher.

     Teachers who love teaching are enthusiastic about the content (for the most part). Teachers who are still in touch with the WHY put passion in the driver's seat and can't wait to get into that world with their students, whether it's a PreK clay project or a senior argumentation research paper or chemistry experiment. 

      The word "enthusiasm" is spiritual in nature, based on Greek roots.

     ✅ Self-check: Are you enthusiastic about being a teacher, at the very core of your professional teacher identity (teacher self-image)?

      How can you infuse more of what ignites your personal enthusiasm, into what you're teaching?

      How can you increase your confidence about teaching the curriculum so when students arrive, you can't wait to share what's in store? Do they see this in your demeanor most days?

      And I've always been a firm believer of the old idiomatic phrase and ancient proverb: DON'T THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER. A retired colleague of mine with a 35-year career behind her often reminded our department of this when we were worried about change and how we'd adapt. She reminded us not to lose ourselves in those hardships.

      Before you decide to throw in the towel altogether, make sure you've truly done your best to reclaim a love--or even a like--of the profession, if you believe it's possible.

      I believe anything is possible if we want it badly enough.

      It's how we shape our decisions on this journey that keeps us in tune with the good and our true purpose as teachers.

FIGURE OUT BETTER COPING STRATEGIES. BOOK YOUR FREE DISCOVERY CALL WITH DR. SHEA

And Snag Your: 5 WAYS TO STAY RESILIENT IN THE CLASSROOM FREE DOWNLOAD