P: Positive, Perseverance, Progress (WR)

Positive, Perseverance, Progress

One thing that I’ve learned throughout my years of teaching is that one must keep positive thoughts. There is plenty research out there that states that being positive, smiling, optimistic and enjoying what you are doing has a great influence on your health and stress levels. Here’s one such article: http://goo.gl/Iw1b27 if you are interested.

I’ve always tried to look on the bright side of things. Sometimes that is hard, when everything seems dismal, like when my computer is trying to prevent me from printing something (like now). But I look on the bright side, it hasn’t deleted anything I’ve written so far yet. I have had difficult classes in the past as did other teachers I worked with. You know who you are! What I tried to do with those teachers was to meet briefly, even if it was just passing in the hall, just to say one positive thing that had happened that day to each other. The day might have been rough, but that one positive moment would temper how the rest of the day went.

The second thing I learned was to persevere like I’m doing right now trying to get this article to print. If one way doesn’t work, try another. And yes, re-booting the computer sometimes works. This is really important in teaching. If I’m teaching a math concept to a class and a student just doesn’t get it, teaching them the same thing over and over again, doesn’t make it any easier for the student. I am going to keep trying, however, I need to find a different route to get to the same end. I’m not sure who came up with this quote, “If you always do what you always do, you’ll always get what you always get,” but it is true. You need to change what you are doing at times but don’t give up.

The last piece of the puzzle is to progress. Being stagnant in what you do can lead you to complacency and boredom; all of which affects the work you do. This can be hard when you’re a teacher and have to teach the same subjects and curriculum year after year. I’ve written before about the reflective journals that I kept as a teacher, http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=511. What I didn’t mention was as I wrote down and set goals for each upcoming year, I made it a point to do something different. Each year I chose to move forward by either trying a new way to teach or a new subject to introduce. Not all of those ideas were successful, but a lot of them were. Towards the end of my career I kept applying for different curriculum and technology grants to try new things. I received most of them. Who knew that in 1987, with just one Apple //e in my class, I could get a grant to purchase a modem (whatever that was) and connect my class to another class in California to share family stories.

As a teacher I was lucky, for I was able to change the groups I was teaching periodically. I was a sixth-grade middle school teacher, an elementary interage 4th and 5th grade teacher, a computer support teacher, and the teacher of the gifted and talented, in addition to a 4th and a 5th grade teacher (not interage). I had to progress because I kept changing who I was working with.

It is important to note, though, that to progress in what you do, it is a lot harder to do it by yourself.  I got to work with some excellent people that helped me. Thank you Barry Luna, for helping me look at issues from other people’s perspectives,  Dennis Littky for mentoring me, Bill Silver, Liala Strotman, Nancy Westover, Carol Davis-Wiebelt and Rob Verbeck for teaming with me and sharing all that you did to make me a better teacher. To my wife, Christina, who has helped guide me for the last 30 plus years so that I can progress and become a better person. I’m sure there are lots of others that I’ve failed to recognize and apologize if I’ve left you out.

Note – that your positive attitude and your perseverance will not only help you to progress but will impact the people around you. That can only help. Think about it.