What matters most

Barely into my third year of teaching, I do not claim to have profound wisdom about how to be the perfect professional or have the perfect classroom.  Especially not when I’m fairly convinced that neither of those two things really exist.  My hope is to encourage those who have long crazy days similar to mine and to share thoughts as they come to mind.  Today, I’m thinking about what the most important part of our job is.

How can we align the beautiful vision we have for what our students will take away from being in our classroom for a school year with our day-in-day-out realities?

There are many different types of jobs in the world.  For some, you have set tasks that are completed during a set amount of hours during the day.  Some jobs are very linear: follow this exact procedure, each step done in the same way.  Others, teaching included, involve much more decision making and creativity.  Some jobs can only be completed while at work, some you can bring home, and others require the worker to be “on call.”  Some workers have projects with looming deadlines, some have the pressure of building things that are safe in order to save lives, or some literally save the very lives that are in front of them each day.  

The tasks, projects and other work of teaching are rarely things you can close the book on and claim “finished.”  Even when your grades are finalized and your papers are organized, there is always more work that can be done.  With so many aspects to each day of work, there are always things that can be tweaked and improved.  There’s always more that can be cleaned, learned, repaired or tried.  This creates the major need to prioritize.  And at the end of the day, what’s most important?

I think what matters most is a little bit different to each person.  I don’t think there’s one shining ideal reason that someone chooses to become a teacher.  Perhaps as we gain experience and wisdom, our goal for each school year shifts and changes to fit what we have learned to hope for.  Regardless of your personal answer to “the thing that matters most in your job,” it can be easy for “that thing” to get lost in the shuffle.

Right now, as our new year begins, you probably have expectations for the year, perhaps even aspirations for the year.  “This year, I will manage more consistently.”  “This year, I will pace my lessons more effectively.”  “This year, I will NOT allow students to break their tiny pencils off into MY pencil sharpener.”  You have a vision and a determination to make it so.  “I’ve got a plan for this year.”  And then you go to your first couple teacher meetings.  Suddenly you’re reminded of your standards, your curriculum maps, your role in leading the Fall Carnival, and the special training you have to go to learn to meet the needs of a new student (surprise!).  The to-do list begins to shift and your lovely “Independent Writing Corner” you had planned to create before the first student day gets pushed further and further down the list.  By November, you’ve made it through parent-teacher conferences and your idea of “vision” is surviving until Christmas Break with a minimal amount of meltdowns.  Sorry if this quick glimpse into the future was a little depressing…

First day of school picture

I wrote most of this post well before school 

started but some of it was scarily accurate.

So how can we align the beautiful vision we have for what our students will take away from being in our classroom for a school year with our day-in-day-out realities?  I really wish I knew.  My inkling right now is to start small and consider how I prioritize.  It’s easy (and usually important) to prioritize the things that are most visible or necessary to be prepared for the next day or week.  Of course, there are things that just MUST be done each day.  But let’s go back to our reason.  Why are we teaching?  What matters most?  If you don’t have answers to those questions, I encourage you to do a little soul-searching.  If you do, think about how you would like to convey them to your students and how these reasons might be reflected in your teaching practice.  If you want to make a difference in the lives of your students, what’s your game plan for that?  If you want to see both academic and character development in your students, what small things can you do to achieve this?  

Let’s make our goals for this new school year both attainable and aligned with our personal vision.  Let’s put our reason and our means of getting there at the top of our to-do lists.  I’d love to hear about ways you might already be doing this.  What’s your top priority and how do you keep it on top?