Over the last few months I have received a number of interesting thoughts from teachers, and non-teachers, in terms of the correlation between happiness and teaching. Many do not believe that is a possibility. Some teachers who are struggling under horrible conditions in their schools don’t see how they can be happy when their students circumstances are so dire and debilitating.
So I went to my handy dictionary to come up with a variety of definitions of happy. To be happy is to be feeling blessed, satisfied, fortunate, cheerful, enthusiastic, gracious, nice, radiant, chipper, sunny, lucky, contented, pleased, buoyant, and merry. These are only a few of the words that came up around the word happy, we only need to feel one of those to be on the road to happiness.
Throughout my years in education I have seen teachers in every kind of circumstance who brought joy, a sense of safety and hope to their students daily. These teachers created a safe haven for their classes. These teachers saw their students as interesting people with talent and potential. Despite the insane climate of the educational system over the years these teachers still were able to guide and help students to reach their potential.
Teachers can be powerful, focused, secure people who are willing to protect and teach the charges in their classrooms. They usually enjoy the challenges of teaching. They love their jobs, and enjoy the antics of most of their students. One of the keynote speakers at our upcoming creativity conference is Sharon Promislow, a dynamic presenter.
Promislow is the author of Making the Brain Body Connection, one of the top 100 best selling books in Cognitive Psychology, embraced for its effective approach to changing behavior, enhancing performance, and increasing learning potential. She provides a comprehensive array of techniques, pulled from eastern and western practices to make the conference attendees feel better, be more effective and deal with life changes (including in the classroom) easily and effectively.
Promislow has quick techniques that she will share in her interactive presentation that helps teachers reduce stress for themselves and their students. Stress rips the happiness out of almost all situations if it is chronic. So it is really important to find a way to reduce stress for yourselves and your students.
I believe that teachers are the focal point of successful education, no matter what environment they find themselves in. Almost every successful person can point to a teacher who not only saw value in them, but gave them hope for a better life. A new path to follow that led them to a future where they thrived.
Copyright ©2014 Patricia Rose Upczak. All rights reserved.
Patricia Rose Upczak is an author, speaker and life coach for teachers. She has been involved in education since 1974. ...