Tag: productivity

Every Great Teacher Is Selfish

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

Happy Spring Break!

Spring Break, just another reason to hate teachers. You have to deal with your kids for a week. You may have to pay for daycare. I know, I know, teachers are the worst!

Plus, they’re selfish!

I do hope that last statement is true during spring break because the best teachers take care of themselves first.

“Place your mask on before assisting others.”

This holds true not only in a burning plane but also in a classroom. The best teachers I know have taken care of themselves first. This equips them to take care of a room full of students.

Work on yourself professionally

The best teachers utilize professional development affectively. They reflect and accept critique of their teaching. They listen and discover the best practices. It’s very likely you might find a teacher on the beach during spring break reading a book about teaching.

The best teachers admit to not having all of the answers but they’ll work really hard to find them. The primary reason I blog about education and faith is because these are the areas I have the most questions and the least answers.

These teachers don’t do what is easy and convenient. The best teachers selfishly study their craft because they know it will serve their students better.

 

Work on yourself personally

The best teachers are not only teachers. They have hobbies and interests they pursue and enjoy. Grading papers in the evenings or on the weekends is not a hobby.

There have been many studies done in the past decade documenting that 40-50% of beginning teachers leave the profession in their first five years. I believe this turnover rate is due to many who have not taken care of themselves first.

Surprisingly, the best teachers do not allow grading and lesson planning to invade their home. Two teachers walk out of a school. One leaves at 4 o’clock with nothing but a coffee cup. The second plods out, dragging a bag of bricks at 5:30. Who is the better teacher? I’m not sure. If you’re the type of person that needs answers, go sit outside a school after dismissal and take some surveys. Though I can venture a guess at which teacher would find a lasting career in education.

 

Start Your Day with Yourself

My mornings start one of two ways.

Scenario 1: The Good Days

I get out of bed shortly after my alarm goes off. I immediately do a devotional involving some brief journaling and prayer. On these Good Days I make an effort to not worry about school until I actually walk in the door. It’s too easy for my mind to get swept up in lesson planning, parent contacts, and student behavior. Miraculously, these are my best days.

 

Scenario 2: The Stressful, Anxious, Sporadic, Merciless Days (The Bad Ones)

I hit snooze too many times, not sure of the actual number. I drowsily go through the physical morning preparation while my mind is all-consumed with the day to come. Before my workday has begun, I already dislike myself as a teacher. On these days it’s safe to say that my students dislike me as a teacher too.

   

The best teacher on her best day, started by taking care of herself. Start your day with yourself. It is so hard to not wake up and immediately anticipate what needs to be prepared for that certain student in second period. It is a fight to hold this off until the work day. It takes routine and practice.

There is a multitude of devotions and mindfulness resources.

I use a simple journaling technique. I first find one praise or “wow” in my life describing something great and powerful that I have no control over. I find a specific trait of God’s character that has been apparent in my recent days.

The “wow” goes at the top and then I split my page into two sides, “Thanks” and “Helps”. Sometimes I find items that I need help with turn into things I’m thankful for days later.

 

Those in a healthy relationship with their career do two things. They seek help knowing they don’t have it all figured out and they don’t allow their work to consume their life.

The best teachers selfishly refine themselves and coincidentally they’re able to serve their students better.

Jesus is questioned about how we’re to live and he replies quite simply to love God and love others (Luke 10:26-28). I believe they’re to be in that order. Take care of yourself so you will then be equipped to serve others well!

Peace in the process

Why Routine and Boring Stuff Matters

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

The Flu Revelation

I didn’t realize the importance of routines until I came down with the flu and was out of commission for about a week. I had lost all momentum. While sick I had a difficult time even reading. Now feeling better all I had to do was hop back in the routine. Problem was I didn’t have a strong routine established. I didn’t have a solid personal morning routine, I’m realizing more that I didn’t have a good classroom routine established. Now here I am navigating a sea storm with a battered ship and torn sails. No reference points and limited controls.

Don’t completely blame me yet, I had thought I had routines, but they had never been tested. After laying around and following only the schedule of my nausea for a week and was now expecting to hop back on the productivity train without a hiccup. For some, this might be a simple task, but without setting strong routines my train had stalled to a stop. It takes a lot to get a locomotive going from a still position.

I had so much I wanted to get done but I didn’t have a starting point. Missing school a few days, my students had forgotten any idea of expectations that had been set for the class. I see what was lacking. When I was there, I kept it together, but it wasn’t set-up to keep moving without my input. The same was true for my mornings. Did I feel like getting up early today? Oh well, I’ll just hit snooze six times. I’ve allowed excuses to creep in and feelings to manipulate.

I don’t get giddy when shown a schedule and I’ve never found calendars to be particularly sexy. These have more of my attention now.

Establishing Routine

We’re rhythmic beings. Our Sabbath should be just like our heartbeat, consistent and reliable. We must have a rhythm if we’re expected to weave together a career, personal interests, family engagement, and spiritual growth. I’ve begun to have set times of the week for these but I didn’t have it instilled prior to getting sick.

Having specific times for writing and personal hobbies makes me more reliable to my family, no longer sporadically saying, “Hey, I have an idea I want to write about, is it alright if I go write for a bit?”

The same is true for my teaching. I think I apply effective strategies for learning in my classroom. Although I’ve yet to instill them in an organized manner. To the students, these different strategies show up unexpected.

I’ve been given a needed opportunity to reevaluate the organization of my classroom and my life. This time of year is always busy for me. It seems like requirements and obligations keep coming at me in the spring, but I now have specific places to put them.

Instilling My Routine

5:30am: Devotion and then write

Work: Get in early and get out on time

4-8pm: Commit to family

8-10pm: Personal commitments (read, woodworking, the occasional tv show with my wife). My readings and activities I do at night often relate to my teaching and writing.

This is not written in stone but I have specific places to put certain obligations. I feel more in control and reliable for my family and students and there is still room for occasional spontaneity.

 

Where is your life on the tidy to chaos spectrum?

I’m far from a productivity guru but my last post was also on this topic.

Finding Productivity in Serving Others, Not a To-Do List

Find Productivity in Serving Others, Not a To-Do List

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

As you well know, for me writing is my process of discernment. Here is the current battle.

How do I knock away at my to-do list while still giving others the attention and service God calls me to?

I’m a Slow Learner

I first wrote this question down a few weeks ago. Now I see the answer lies in the question. If my to-do list revolves around me and doesn’t exist to serve others, then I am not being productive. Lately I’ve been struggling to find the time to fulfill my hobbies. The problem is that each of my hobbies are self-serving and done in isolation. I believe these hobbies do contribute to my happiness and well being but I’m realizing they may be carrying too much priority.

My first awareness to this whole productivity vs. service issue came in the classroom. Am I existing as a teacher to work through a set curriculum or am I conscientiously serving the students in attention to their individualized needs? I’ve been searching for a clear cut answer but I’ve only discovered more questions. (This is another testament to why I believe there’s power in inquiry-based learning).

Questions like: Do I sit here and continue refining my lesson or go assist a coworker who I know is in need? Should I stop to talk to the student in obvious frustration or push through with my whole class instruction.    

The questions don’t stop there, it appears that every single situation and decision could become a conflict between productivity and service. I’ve finally discovered this doesn’t have to be the case. The two can smoothly meld together!

See Service in Every Task

I have written down on a notecard, “How is this serving others?” I’ll be keeping that card in my pocket daily until it disintegrates into a lint ball or to the point when I don’t remember why there is a notecard in my pocket. This card will give me a tangible reminder in my daily actions to intentionally spend my time fulfilling tasks that serve. It will also give purpose to the tasks that might be mundane but at the root serve.  

In the posture of service I give students valuable feedback when I’m grading instead of simply putting a grade. In this posture I’m motivated to pack my son’s lunch instead of leaving it for my wife. I’m a better person to converse with. Instead of numbering my to-do list in my mind while you talk at me, I’m engaged and invested in the exchange. When I do need that me-time hobby, I’m trying to do it in time that doesn’t take away from others. Like writing this blogpost at 5:00am the last two days. Moreover, my wife and son are pleased that I chose the quiet hobby of writing instead of using power tools for woodworking in the basement at 5:00am. So you could say I’m even serving my family while they sleep!

I can’t believe it took me several weeks for me to begin to attack my issue of productivity versus service. This also proves the importance of journaling and coming back to previous ideas. But that is another post for another day.

 

If you are serving someone you are being productive!

 

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” -Henry David Thoreau

 

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