It’s My Life [and my school year]

Dear Teacher,

Okay, I know that you may or may not be starting the new school year when you read this.  However, there is a good chance that you are, because most of the readers of this blog are from the US.  If you are not starting the new school year, you may still find some motivation here in this post, so read on.  I hope it will be worth your time!

This is a theme song post; you know the procedures by now, I hope!  Click play and then start reading when the music starts!

This is it, Teacher.  A new school year is upon you.  Are you ready?  Are you nervous?  Are you anxious?  Are you excited?  Or are you, like me, a jumble and mix of all three and then some?

What are your plans for the year?  I don’t mean unit and lesson plans.  I mean what are your plans in the terms of what you want the school year to look like?  Do you have those kind of plans?  Do you have goals, hopes, and dreams for what the school year could be like?  I don’t mean the kind of hopes and dreams that you think, “That would be nice but it won’t happen.”  I mean the kind of hopes and dreams that you believe in so much that it gets you up in the morning and you will wear yourself out to make happen?

A lot of us had those kind of plans when we first started teaching.  Unfortunately, the longer you teach the more that kind of thinking fades.  Lofty and slightly unrealistic goals get beat out of you by the realities of teaching.  It does happen slowly, thank goodness, but our hopes erode over the years.

Drip by drip, the stress and pressure of teaching starts to wear on you.  It breaks down the hope.  It washes some of the dreaming away.  It dims the light that used to shine so bright.

Sometimes this gets to the point that the school year happens to you.  You get stuck in a form of “survival mode” that you stay in just to make it through.  You love and do your best with your students, but the spark is faded or gone.  You go along with the waves and currents of the year because you have so little fight left.  It is a normal part of teaching for so many of us.  Don’t feel bad if you have been there or are there.  There is hope!

What is that hope, Mr. Dear Teacher/Love Teacher?

The hope is that IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!

Most of this is going to be a mental exercise, so I know that you may or may not see this as a little bit of “pie in the sky hooey,” but you just have to change your thinking!  You have to believe that this year is going to be different.  This year will be the change and you will never be the same teacher again!  You have to stand firm and resolute.  You have have to stand tall, look this new school year in the eye, and be determined that you are going to happen to the year and the year is not just going to happen to you!

Your attitude has to change.

Remember way back to when you first started out.  Remember those wild-eyed dreams that you had.  Remember the teacher that you were determined to be.  Remember how you were going to take the world by storm and change the lives of your students for the better.

Have that image and those thoughts in your head, and then look in the mirror and tell yourself that it is not too late.  You know why?  It is because, no matter how long that you have been teaching, IT IS NOT TOO LATE!  You can still be that teacher!  You can still meet those goals!

The best part is that the longer you have been teaching, the more know-how and experience you have to make those things happen and be that teacher you wanted to be.  You just have to purpose yourself to do so!  And you can!  You can because you are awesome!

The past does not matter.  No matter the teacher you have been, you can still be the teacher you always wanted to be!  Find a way to do it.  Hang out with those teachers that are closest to what you dreamed of being.  Learn from them.  Read, read, read!  There are so many sources for strategies and ideas!  I will post some of those sources soon.  Get to know your students.  Find out what they think they need from you as a teacher.  Try to become the teacher that they need!

Teacher, YOU CAN DO THIS!

It is your teaching life.  It is your year.  It is now or never.  Teach like your alive!  You are alive!  You can be the great teacher you wanted to be or that people think you are and you don’t believe them.  It is never too late!

BE AWESOME!  MAKE THIS YEAR AWESOME!  DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES!  YOU CAN BECAUSE YOU ARE AMAZING!  KEEP ON TEACHING, TEACHER!

This is your year, and don’t you forget it!

Love, Teacher