If you find the calm in the storm of teaching, you will find the magic of teaching.

Pausing, Listening, Watching, Loving Teaching

It was only the first week back and I was already becoming overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of “stuff.” I found myself letting my stress take over. But fortunately I found a way to fight the exhaustion and find the energy. I rekindled my passion for teaching. It was amazing! It is possible to reorganize our priorities, make adjustments within our control and find the passion of teaching.

While the answer was simplification, it was not simple. It took discipline.

I realized I needed to look past the chaos. Instead of giving in to it, I forced myself to stop, pause, breathe. Then I focused on my students, and only on them. I began to watch and listen to them, searching for moments to cherish, moments that would remind me what I loved about teaching, and what I valued.

Take Anthony’s art. It looked like a sheet filled with messy scribbles, one on top of the other. As he began to tell me the story, he pointed to marks he said were the house and then marks that were the people. As the story continued, the random squiggles began to emerge into recognizable scenes. Other students had drawn a new picture for each scene. Anthony had drawn each scene on top of the previous scene. What I first saw as messy scribbles, I now saw as art made of complex layers of Anthony’s imagination. Wow!

When I listened I heard Katie helping Sophia with a math problem. I didn’t hear Katie giving Sophia the answers. Instead Katie asked, “What do you already know about this problem?” After listening to Sophia’s response, Katie asked her, “How is this problem like the fraction problems we did yesterday?” With each response from Sophia, Katie asked a new question, and each question led Sophia closer to unraveling the mystery of multiplying fractions. I heard Katie nurturing Sophia’s learning. I heard Katie providing the support Sophia needed to learn. Wow!

When I listened I heard Joanna yelling, “Megan just made a synapse! Megan just figured out how to solve the problem!” followed by clapping from the rest of the students.

I saw the grin on Megan’s face as she looked at the whiteboard with all of her mathematical thinking displayed.

As the day progressed, the moments of aha’s added up. It was obvious to me. I remembered my core belief, “Students are capable of amazing things.” I loved being a part of students discovering the wonders around them. I remembered what I valued: I valued students’ voices. I valued what students could accomplish when working together.

With this realization, all the other aspects of my teaching life seemed inconsequential. Yes, I still had to take attendance, complete report cards, take attendance, administer state mandated tests, take attendance — but I could find the energy. I could savor being a part of a learning community as long as I paused to enjoy its magical moments.

I learned anew the importance of creating that community. Suddenly, the overwhelming challenges of navigating today’s educational system weren’t so energy sapping. Yes, they had to get done. But my focus was on the students, the magical moments, and on building our community.

I loved teaching again.

What do you value? What do you love about teaching?

Magical Moments of Learning

Now, take a deep breath, count to 10, and take control of your classroom. There are those who say we can’t. But I disagree. I returned to the classroom, took a deep breathe, counted to 10 and found the joy of learning and exploring with my students. And it was amazing!!!! Hard work, but worth it. It took effort, but was rewarding.

The answer for teachers to rekindle the joy of teaching is finding the time and energy to pause and embrace the moments of wonder — the moments their students light up with a new connection, new understandings, more importantly new questions. This is the eye of storm. The eye of learning.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade