I just had to rewrite this blog post because I was not meeting my goal/mantra. My goal is to focus on the good because the majority of the people that I work with (parents, students, teachers) are good, but I tend to let one bad experience weigh heavily on me. In trying to give an example of this, I found myself ultra focused on a bad situation. So obviously, it is going to be a challenge for me to meet my goal of enjoying the good things in my career.
My main issue last year was two parents/students that did not agree with a) hybrid learning or b) responsibilities like coming to class on time and participating in class. I let these two situations overshadow hundreds of positive ones. I'd go home feeling defeated. I had 118 other sets of parents who were very supportive. I allowed these two parents to ruin the positive feedback that I got from everyone else. So this is my goal for the new year. Focus more on the good than the bad. You can't please all of the people all of the time. I think it may help for me to do One Good Thing posts regularly. Maybe that will be another goal. Yes, I think it will be.
I love using "Focus on the good" as a way to lighten a bad situations or bad days. This is the lock screen I have saved on my phone: http://bit.ly/2bzkElf
ReplyDeleteSo pretty, and a great reminder every time you look at your phone. I teach with a school issued ipad. Maybe I can put that on the ipad lock screen :)
ReplyDeleteJennifer - just found your blog via a link on Dan Meyer's blog. Enjoying it. I am looking forward to trying out tarsia!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the need to be more positive thing. Too often I spend the evening focused on the one that went wrong, not the 20 that went right. Our middle school team meets each week for 30 minutes to discuss student concerns. As our ms only has about 90 students total, we tend to spend a lot of time on the same students. I started a thing this year where we end each meeting with a student positive. I figure amongst all the concerns we have, there must be some students doing something right. (It's the law of averages, right?)
So maybe I have a new challenge for myself. Send one parent, one positive email a day. It could only take five minutes a day. I can do that. I think if we don't force ourselves to focus on the positive, it won't happen.
Thanks for stopping by! I love Tarsia. I always create ones that are too large though. Less is more :) I have already been challenged to focus on the good and I only have 4 school days in so far. Thanks for the comment, it reminds me of my goal!
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