15 Nov I have got superpower
“The student comes to school with two schoolbags: in one, he has got books and notebooks; in the other, his whole world: loneliness, his parents’ divorce, dreams of sport success or grandfather’s illness. The teacher should always remember about these two schoolbags.”
Krystyna Baryś
The thing is that the teacher also comes to school with two backpacks. . One contains the materials needed for lessons, and the other all his real or imagined problems. We all are people. But we are adults. And it puts responsibility on us.
The lesson does not start at 8.00 or 8.50; the lesson begins just after the teacher wakes up and continues until late evening hours. In such a long time, a lot happens – children get sick, the car breaks down, someone in the family screws up again, there is no money, or a key is lost, and yet – SOON THE BELL RINGS!
You cannot escape from everyday life.
But you can get used to it.
Our duty as adults, as teachers – is to leave this heavier backpack behind the classroom door. And most of us just do that, or at least they try. But what about the situation when behind the classroom door there are even more problems waiting than the ones left in front of it? How to deal with it?
Start with yourself. And end on yourself. The rest will work out by itself.
Seriously?
The teacher is a public person, a person who must be strong enough to attract a group of people who are often unwilling to act. How to feel this power in yourself?
Brian Tracy claims that everything depends on our beliefs and our thoughts. They are the cause of behavior. So, if we want to achieve something, we must get rid of negative thoughts because only they really cause some inhibitions in us. If the teacher enters the classroom with the conviction that it is not worth working with these students because it will not change anything, that this topic is not worth the attention, and the class does not like it very much, there is a good chance that … students will believe it! To be infected with a positive attitude, one must be positive. We must give up our inhibitions, misconceptions about ourselves, prejudices, for it is not facts that hurt us, but our opinion about them. Everything is a matter of interpretation.
It’s not so easy to believe that the world is positive and I’m really okay. But it’s worth believing – for the sake of myself and all those around us. Brian Tracy mentions the law of faith; he claims that what we believe in gradually becomes our reality. Our mind seeks confirmation of what is in our head, at the same time rejecting inconsistent elements. Therefore, there is nothing simpler than starting with positive theses and assumptions, and the argumentation will appear by itself, because that’s what we will look for and see in the behavior of other people. So, when I enter the classroom with the conviction that we have a fantastic subject ahead of us, and the class I look at is the one with whom we will reach the top – I do not need anything else: only myself, the topic and the class.
That is why the teacher’s self-development becomes so important – someone who barely stands on his feet will not be able to lift and teach others to walk. And if others would like to be guided, one must take care of correct relations. What are they based on? Simply on liking and accepting – yourself and others, because you cannot like others when you do not like yourself.
We like people in whose company we feel good. We like people who smile, who are warm, and those who attract. And they attract people because they like … themselves. It is worth investing in your own development, it is worth getting to know yourself in order to determine your strengths and weaknesses and make every effort to work more on the latter. If we sincerely like ourselves, we will be happy, and then we will act like a magnet for young people because when we feel good with ourselves, we make others feel good in our company. This is important since the education process is more effective when based on good interpersonal relations. Our brains, as the brains of social beings, work best in conditions of good relationships. So, even if not for your own better well-being, it’s worth taking care of yourself to take care of others
A satisfied and fulfilled teacher has a positive aura around him. He has the strength to help others, support them and guide them. Self-esteem is the condition and effect of every success. The attitude of the teacher, his positive emotions and smile, trigger in the student the internal motivation mentioned in the previous entry (link), and there is no more effective way to achieve the goals of the education process.
Therefore, as Kamila Rowińska says,
“In life, it is not always win the wisest, the most beautiful and the most successful that win. The winners are those who decide to win.”
Kamila Rowińska