How Teachers Maintain Energy and Enthusiasm

Below are two article summaries about how to remain energized and excited as a teacher and how to stay happy at work. While the second article is not directly about teaching and schools, its suggestions relate to schools.

There is nothing “earthshattering” here, yet both articles remind us how important it is to foster and cultivate strong, deep, and supportive relationships with students, parents, and especially colleagues and to ensure you find some fun and have some laughs every day at work.

I feel very fortunate that I found a career where every day of work is enjoyable, fun, and enriching and I feel very sad for those who view their daily work as a daily chore. (The best man at my wedding use to teach and coach with me. After teaching for a few years, he got a job at Goldman Sachs where he's been for the past 25 years. We reconnected at NYC bar a few years ago and he told me how much he hates his job. He was technically a success in terms of his salary and material possessions but he was now in fact a very sad guy—quite different from how I remembered him. Even though his salary was probably ten times mine, I paid the tab because I felt I was the wealthier one.)

Enjoy the weekend!

Joe

Four Tips to Stay at the Top of Your Game (from ASCD)

Teaching is a tough job. Is it any wonder that by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, most of us let out a collective sigh of relief as we look forward to that break?

Here are four suggestions to keep or get you feeling energized, enthusiastic, and positive. You owe that to yourself and, more importantly, to your students, who need you at the top of your game every day.

Deliberately be thankful. It seems like human nature to notice when things go wrong but fail to see when they go right. We can easily spot a misbehaving child in the supermarket but are less likely to notice the cooperative ones. It is easy to take for granted the many positive things that happen every day. Focus on celebrating small victories that can be easy to miss.

Make fun a priority. Every school should require its teachers (and students) to have fun every day. We should be a model of what we expect. Show your kids that you enjoy what you are doing.

See the silver lining in every cloud. My daughter is a first-year special education teacher in an inner-city elementary school. For the first month, her phone calls home revolved around exasperation with an out-of-control boy who she was convinced should not have been placed in herclass and would never be manageable in that environment. Despite doubting her ability to influence change, she agreed to welcome him every day with an affectionate greeting (usually a hug) and highlight at least one positive accomplishment or contribution every day. After one week she called excitedly one day to say that for the first time, she did not have to send him to theoffice. Things have continued to improve ever since, although not without occasional regression.

Make their day. The most important thing for emotional well-being is to feel cared about. Best of all, it rarely takes more than akind word or caring gesture to show that you care. Make it a habit to show your kids, colleagues, and parents that they matter: for example, a friendly greeting, a touch on an unhappy child’s shoulder, a moment to listen to a stressed colleague, a phone call home to share good news. These gestures will make their day, and you’ll probably notice that making their day will usually make yours.

6 Ways to Be More Popular and Happy at Work

Research shows that strong social connections on the job can improve productivity, make you more passionate about what you do and less likely to quit your job.

A Gallup Organization survey found that having close friendships at work can boost employee satisfaction by asmuch as 50%.

So how do you boost your popularity at work?

Listening better. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone who wasn’t tapping away on a smartphone, glancing at email or appearing distracted? If you offer your undivided attention to someone, you convey the message that you think they’re important.  If you become a good sounding board, others are more likely to seek you out more often.

Using good manners.  Teenager Maya Van Wagenen was new to her Brownsville, Texas, school and wanted to be more popular. So using a1950s etiquette book called “Betty Cornell’s Teen-Age Popularity Guide,” Van Wagenen began to follow advice such as being yourself, not putting on “airs” and treating everyone with the same kindness.  The advice not only helped the teen become more popular, but the chronicling of her efforts garnered her a $300,000 book deal. DreamWorks has optioned movie rights to the book. If being nice and polite can work for a this teenager, why not you?

Offering compliments.  Compliments are a great way to make others feel good about themselves, and that can help them feel goodabout you. 

Avoiding gossip.  Do you like being gossiped about? No? Neither does anyone else. Don’t do it if you want to be liked by other people.

Don’t fake it ‘til you make it.  Don’t try to be someone you’re not when you’re trying to increase your popularity. We all have individual strengths and gifts, so think about the positive things people have said about you. Use those abilities to increase your popularity, whether it’s an ability to stay calm during stressful times or a gift for negotiating. When you use your abilities to help others, you will be seen as likeable, not phony.

Showing confidence. Put your shoulders back, hold your head high and constantly remind yourself of your positive qualities. Research by Columbia Business School found that individuals who wrote down their accomplishments and goals before going into a group setting not only showed greater initiative during initial group discussions, but they also appeared more competent to teammates