Doesn’t it seem like yesterday you were in college
with the hopes, dreams, and excitement of someday having your own classroom?
You were surrounded by your fellow education students who were just as excited
as you about entering the world of education. You loved to go to teacher stores to look at
all the teaching materials, wondered what grade/subject you would be teaching,
and you could not wait to begin student teaching so you could get in a real
classroom with real students! You survived writing the tediously long lesson
plans you knew you would never use in real life, you made a Pinterest-worthy
student teaching portfolio, and you graduated with nothing but hopes and dreams
of landing the perfect first teaching job. Then, finally, you were hired and
could not wait to get your keys and start decorating your first classroom! All
was right with the world!
You walk in to your new school, ready to change the
lives of tomorrow’s future, and no one is going to extinguish the fire of your
enthusiasm! Everyone seems pretty excited and happy about the beginning of a
new year, but after a few weeks pass, you begin to notice that teaching is not
as perfect as you had imagined. It seems like state testing and student data
are the only things anyone cares about. You are already out of money to buy
more classroom supplies, and you are working until 5:00 every night trying to
plan lessons and grade that mountain of papers on your desk. You are constantly
worried about that unannounced observation that could happen any day now, and
you want to make sure you have the world’s greatest lesson plan ready each and
every day. You notice your enthusiasm is beginning to be replaced with
exhaustion, and to make matters worse, you work with certain teachers who do
nothing but complain about everything, all the time, every day, and they start
to drag you down the tunnel of doom with them. You begin to question why you
entered this profession in the first place! You could have made a great nurse, business
manager, or even a lawyer! At least then you wouldn’t have to buy your own
printer and ink!
Okay, STOP! This is where you have to make a choice.
You can either let your Debbie Downer co-workers steal all your joy, or you can
decide that you are not going to let someone else’s negativity affect your
attitude. If you are finding your attitude about teaching becoming negative
because there may be a lot of negativity around you, you need to find some
teacher friends who have a good sense of humor to make teaching fun again.
Teaching can be stressful, but being able to laugh at some of the craziness
that teachers deal with every day will make your life so much better. Try to
turn negative conversations around. Tell something funny that happened in your
class that day, talk about your latest Netflix addiction, or maybe make a
dinner date with your co-workers to unwind after a long week at school!
It is completely normal to sometimes feel negative,
and you will want to join in on the complaining wagon. Do not feel guilty if
you do not love your job every minute of every day. Teachers are human too and will
have good days and bad days. The important thing to remember is never to let
that negativity control you. Yes, you may have a bad day, or even a bad week,
but only you can choose what kind of attitude you will have. You will enjoy
teaching (and life!) so much more if you avoid negative people, choose positive
people as your friends, and remember the real reason you wanted to be a
teacher: the kids. Each morning, when you enter your classroom, remember that
you may be the only smile and hug that child gets that day. You may be the
teacher who sparks the love of science, math, history, English, music, or art
that will someday affect what a child decides to do with his or her life.
Remember, even on your bad days, those kids are looking up to you, and your
attitude in the classroom can determine whether or not your students love
learning, or whether they dread coming to school. So the next time you have
early morning bus duty, an IEP meeting during your planning period, an
unannounced observation, and a faculty meeting after school, just remember that
YOU, and only you, can decide to have a great attitude and enjoy life, and do
not let anyone or any circumstance steal that joy!
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