I’ve recently started student teaching in a high school English class for the first time. Along with adjusting to a new schedule and role, I’ve also been adjusting to what it’s like to teach every day. I’ve been really enjoying it, but it’s hard. It’s hard to wake up motivated and ready to socialize, yet alone ready to teach a room full of students.
Some days, I wake up and I feel great. I’m excited and ready to start the day. Others, it takes me a few hours to even feel up to speaking to the other teachers. And, a lot of the time, the students don’t really feel up to it either. This is the longest I’ve ever taught before and it’s come with its own set of challenges that I know are just going to keep building over the rest of this year. But the one thing I’ve noticed that gets me and the students out of that funk the quickest is when we start the day with a positive thought.
Last year, I received a jar of positive thoughts to help me push through the rest of a rough semester. I’d wake up early for class or work. I’d read a positive thought from the jar. I’d try to think about it in the context of what I had to do today and how I was feeling at the moment. Then, I’d keep that thought with me throughout the day to remind myself of the promises I’d made that morning to try and live up to that positive thought. That jar really helped me through that semester. So, when I had a hard weekend, and found myself feeling unmotivated and unworthy of teaching the next week, I decided to bring that jar into the classroom.
At first, I just intended to keep them for myself as a way to start off on the right foot before the students came into the classroom. But, after talking to my Collaborating Teacher, I realized the students may need this too. In fact, they ended up needing some positivity that very day. So, I took them through my routine of picking a thought, putting it into context for the day and class period, and carrying it with them throughout the day. While they couldn’t physically carry the positive thought with them as I had, I actually saw a change happen in them from their first steps into class and their steps out of it. And, like the other times, I’d done this before, I felt the change in myself.
Since that day, I’ve been starting every morning at the high school with a positive thought from my jar. (The students actually get upset if I forget.) Doing this reminds me that bad feelings (doubt, sadness, feeling unmotivated, frustration, etc.) will pass and only last as long or feel as bad as we allow them to–within reason, of course. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are so much stronger than we believe and capable of more than others tell us.
At school, I use positive thoughts to not only start the day on a positive note but to inspire and motivate the children beyond that. Obviously, most of you aren’t student teaching and aren’t going through the same exact things I am right now. But, starting off your days on a positive note is something that can be beneficial to all of us. It’s really changed the outcome of my days–even the ones that start off horribly. I hope you all give it a try if you haven’t already. It truly does make a difference.