Finding enjoyment in teaching: Why we should set expectations to match our skills
Introduction
When I was 22 years old, I learnt the concept of Flow. The concept can be summarised as a state of full focus in that we are completely absorbed and engrossed in our work. When we are in a Flow state, time flies; every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably. The flow experience that results from using skills leads to growth (Csíkszentmihályi, 1992).
The book has become my “Bible” for me to look for true enjoyment in every part of my life, especially work. Why? Because I hate work. As a dyslexic, reading and writing is tough. Researching and writing a project is ten times more challenging than my peers. You might think, “Then why are you writing when it is tough?” That’s because I found a way to enjoy reading and writing.
“Do every job you’re in like you’re going to do it for the rest of your life and demonstrate ownership of it.”
(Marry Barra, CEO of GM)
We need to find a way to enjoy our work as a teacher. In Singapore, the retirement age is 62, so we have about 40 years of work after we graduate from the university. I often asked myself, “Am I going to wait until I am 62 before I can finally enjoy?” “Am I going to continue waiting for June and December to come before I can take a break?”
Rather than considering all these negative questions, we should make school days feel like a school holiday and a school holiday feel like a waste of time. We should make our work feel like a walk in the park.
To be honest, I do not like to walk in the park. Singapore is too hot to walk in the park. I prefer something indoor and faster, like playing badminton. So I often question, “What makes playing badminton so enjoyable?”
Linking the theories together
“Flow occurs in your life when your highest skills are matched to challenges that quite exactly meet them.”
(Martin Seligman)
When I was in primary six, I started playing badminton near my house with my sister. As both of us were beginners, we only had one objective: to keep the shuttlecock in the air for as long as possible. We started by standing closer to each other. We discovered that by hitting the shuttlecock higher, we have more time to react to the shuttlecock. Whenever we had a good rally, we got into a Flow state where we were fully engaged in the whole process. Every day after school, we were so excited to play badminton because we wanted to hit more shots in our rallies.
However, I found out later that badminton can also be frustrating. When I played with one of my friends, he would always hit the shuttlecock so hard that I could never return the shorts. I quickly lost the motivation to play, so I lied to my friend my parents needed me to be home early. If I understood the concept of Flow, I would have told my friend to hit me more softly or stand further away.
To explain further using learning theories, Lev Vygotsky, who developed the social constructivist theory, suggested that learning occurs when learners are provided with assistance in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Mcleod, 2023). In self-determination theory, learners need to feel competent as they meet the challenges and standards (Usable Knowledge, 2016). And one of the four sources of self-efficacy is “Mastery experiences”(Bandura 1997).
When we link the theories together, we achieve mastery when we learn (with support and guidance) in our ZPD, and mastery increases our intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. High self-efficacy often leads to job satisfaction (Zhang et al., 2023).
Teaching is a complex process
It is simple to understand the concepts if we are learning to shoot a basketball. If the ball cannot reach the ring, ask the learner to stand nearer (ZPD) and share some shooting techniques with him (Guidance). Then, give encouragement and affirmation when he scores (Self-efficacy theory) and after he feels good about his shooting, ask him to move slightly further away (A new ZPD).
However, teaching can be complex. As a beginning teacher, I thought a lesson plan was a step-by-step guide to a good lesson. All I have to do is write down all the good things I have to do in the lesson plan and follow it step by step.
“Set the expectation as clear as possible”, “Start with a game”, “Give questions”, “Think-pair-share”, “Use EdTech”; “Consolidate learning” are few of the many other things. But all of us soon found out each part of the lesson plan requires skills that would need hours of deliberate practice. To put so many parts together in a lesson plan is overwhelming.
Know your strengths and set your own achievable goal
“Setting clear expectations” is itself a skill. How do we know that the students are overwhelmed by our lengthy instructions? What should we say, and what tone should we use to motivate the students to work towards the expectations?
Have you had the experience as you are setting expectations for the students, the students asked if they can start playing?
And have you ever spent so much time explaining an expectation many of the students did not work towards it?
We need to know what we can do to set the right challenge for ourselves. What is our strength? What are we comfortable to do? That is our prior knowledge or skills. Then we think about our ZPD, which is only a little higher than what we are good at. For example, we might be good at giving students ample practice time. That is our strength. Then, our goal is to provide students even more time to practice. For example, we can use a simple flip classroom method to show them a video of what they will practice. Then we sent them a text message saying, “I want all of you to come early for the lesson, take one basketball and practice what the video is showing.”
Let’s say our strength is good classroom management. When students come, they have a routine of collecting their equipment and sitting down nicely in neat rows while the PE leader marks attendance and the class monitor keeps the class quiet. Then, our personal goal is to have even better classroom management by asking each group to nominate a fitness leader who would organise a warm-up session.
“A confident teacher would have a positive impact on his or her students’ achievement, attitude, affective and even socio-emotional growth.”
(National Institute of Education [NIE], 2016)
We have to feel competent even before the lesson starts. Then, we will bring positive energy into the class. And positive energy begets positive energy.
My strength is verbal persuasion to motivate students. If I want to enjoy the lesson, I must set a personal goal aligning with my strengths. I would aim to use verbal persuasion to motivate the students even more.
For example, I will move around the class whenever I teach, motivating the students to believe in themselves. The more I do, the more positive energy I will create in the classroom, and I could quickly go into a flow state. If I want to make use of EdTech, I will still use it in a way that could allow me to motivate them. For example, once, I encouraged the students to upload possible learning cues onto the Padlet, and then I looked at the posts and affirmed them even further. I would not set myself up for failure by doing something very drastic. I tried playing music before because music is a good motivator during PE. It was so loud I did not even feel like talking to the students. In the end, I did not enjoy the lesson at all.
I am not saying we should only stick to what we are good at and treat every other aspect of pedagogy lightly. The goal is to practice at our ZPD so that it would not diminish our self-efficacy. In the book Atomic Habits, Clear (2022) explains if we improve our skills by 1% each day, everyday, for one year, the compounding effect will cause our skills to improve by 3700%. In other words, if we use a little bit of EdTech to increase our effectiveness by 1%, and if we feel good about the lesson, we will feel more confident to do more using EdTech in the next lesson. Over time, our skill sets will evolve.
More examples
As a teacher leader, I observe teachers’ lessons and give guidance. In many lesson observations, I saw teachers overwhelmed by many things they wanted to try. As a result, many teachers dread lesson observations. However, there are many occasions when teachers reach a state of flow during lesson observations. Below are some examples.
Example 1 — Ms C
Ms C was very worried the whole week before the first lesson observation. In the first lesson, I observed that she may have difficulties in classroom management, but she always tells students to “give chance” to the other students. After the lesson, I shared my observation about her strengths with her, and we decided to get the class to modify the rules to make every game playable. In the next lesson, she put more effort into telling the students to adjust the rules so that students of different abilities can enjoy themselves. The more she does it, the more students enjoy games. Seeing the students enjoying games motivated Ms C, and the class’s discipline improved!
Example 2 — Mr J
Mr J was a beginning teacher. He had issues with explaining concepts clearly. But he is a firm believer in student empowerment. When he shared his belief with me, I told him we would try together. I was amazed the next lesson went so well! I realised he already had many great ideas but was too afraid to try because everyone in the department uses a more teacher-directed approach. After that, he told me that whenever he ended the class, he would feel great satisfaction.
Example 3 — Ms T
Ms T is a task-oriented teacher. However, she hardly assesses the students’ learning. But she is so good at giving instructions and building rapport that the class follows her instructions from the start to the end of lessons. We decided to try asking the student to do peer coaching, but only as part of the practice. She continued to do what she did, and towards the end of the practice, Ms T would ask some students to go around and help the students who were not getting it. After a few lessons, we could see more students going around to help, and she became very good at observing and assessing the students’ learning.
We are our best motivators
“When you point out kids’ strengths, they grow in confidence. They know you see them. You see the whole individual, not just an empty vessel that needs to be filled with your knowledge”
(Laura Lenz of Cult of Pedagogy)
It is the same as adults. We often see other teacher has many “great tools”, and we think we need to have those to do well in our work. We all had a good experience when the observer told us the lesson was good. What was our motivation level? High right? So, the goal is always to have that good feeling through our self-assessment of our lessons. We want to feel good about ourselves so that we have the motivation to try even more and work even harder. Success leads to self-belief, and self-belief leads to higher commitment. Higher commitment leads to more success, and the virtuous cycle continues.
Reference
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Clear, J. (2022). Atomic habits. Editura Trei SRL.
Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1992). Flow: the psychology of happiness. https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Happiness-Csikszentmihalyi-Mihaly/dp/0712654771
Martin Seligman Quote. (n.d.). A-Z Quotes. https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1048868
Mcleod, S., PhD. (2023). Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding Theory. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/zone-of-proximal-development.html#ZPD-Theory
National Institute of Education [NIE]. (2015). Confident Teachers Make for Confident Learners. Singteach. https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/2016/03/10/issue56-research02/
Usable Knowledge. (2016, September 11). Intrinsically motivated. Harvard Graduate School of Education. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/16/09/intrinsically-motivated
Zhang, L. J., Fathi, J., & Mohammaddokht, F. (2023). Predicting Teaching Enjoyment from Teachers’ Perceived School Climate, Self-Efficacy, and Psychological Wellbeing at Work: EFL Teachers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 130(5), 2269–2299. https://doi.org/10.1177/00315125231182269
