Do you ever think about your purpose, your reason, and your fun when it comes to your job?
A while ago, I had a principal that told us not to answer the question of, “What do you do?” with “I’m a teacher or I teach 8th grade.” She told us to think about our purpose. What do we DO? This lesson always make me think about my role as a teacher in the beginning of the school year.
What is your PURPOSE?
I started answering this question with, “I help teenagers to gain more confidence in themselves and in public speaking.” When you set your purpose, it helps you to stay driven in your job. When I taught 8th grade language arts, my purpose wasn’t to help kids learn to read and write. Surprising? I know.
I felt my purpose was to help kids LIKE to read and write. This isn’t always easy in middle school, and I figured it was important before they reached high school. Of course they learned skills along the way, but nothing made me feel better than when a student, who normally hated to read, would tell me they actually liked the books that I picked out for them. Or when a student would work hard on their Nanowrimo book and end up publishing it on Amazon; I knew they realized that writing can be fun. Here’s a past blog post about Nanowrimo.
My best friend in CA decided to start her own cooking business in which she makes delicious homemade meals, freezes them, and then delivers them to her customers. I know if I asked her what her purpose is for her business, it wouldn’t be to make dinner for people. I think her answer would be to make people happy.
So, what is your PURPOSE in your job?
What is your REASON?
I believe for most teachers, the reason they are in that school building, day in and day out, is because of the kids. The kids are the reason we show up each day. It definitely isn’t for the money! As you start this new school year, pay more attention to your reason.
This summer, I started coaching four kids on their public speaking skills. The kids created their own product for Destination Imagination, and it was such a hit that they turned it into a real business that is going global! (Side note: If you have kids that ski, you will want to check out their product called the Ski Pack. It was made for kids, by kids! It is like a backpack that lets your kids carry their own skis and poles, but it folds up small enough to fit in your pocket. Cool, right? You can buy your own pack for your kids at this website: https://www.puremountainfun.com/). Make sure you check it out when you are done reading this blog post, of course!
Back to these amazing kids. Since their company is taking off, they are going to present at a conference in Boston this November, and they need to be ready with strong presentation skills. This is where I come in; I am helping them learn to be more confident and poised. It is because of these kids that I was reminded of my reason while starting this school year. I am lucky enough to have a job where I know it will make a difference in the lives of each student in my class. At the beginning of the year, I make a promise to them that they will be better speakers and more confident than they are on day 1 of my class. They are my reason!
What is your FUN?
These past two years, I admit, I forgot what it was like to have fun at work. I went to work, taught my classes, ate lunch in my classroom, and went home. I have decided that I need to find my fun again. This week, I ate lunch with my friends, and I had a blast by going axe throwing at Primal Axe House (I highly recommend this place), with my colleagues. I laughed so much, even though I was terrible at in the beginning, and it felt good to just have fun with the people at my work.
How are you going to create your own fun for yourself and for your students?
This week, the staff played an icebreaker game called “Dude, More Dude.” You can find the cards for it on Amazon here. Our admin wanted to remind us that we are one big family that supports each other.
Basically, you get these cards that have different characters on them. Mine was a pirate. (That was funny since my classroom is decorated in a pirate theme.) You walk up to another person and say “Dude” as if you were that character. I struggled because the pirate was tough without using actions or extra words. If the other person has your same character, you join up to start forming a family and find more members.
I could see using this in class to form table groups. You would have to make sure there are only four of each character (or multiples of four), if you have table groups of four. I think the students would like this unique way of forming groups.
Take a moment
My teaching tip for this week is to take a moment to think through these three questions for your own job. What is your purpose? What is your reason? What is your fun? As a teacher who highly believes in self-reflection, it may just help you to take that first step in being more prepared for the school year.
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