Expected Versus Unexpected
From the desk of Carol C…
How do you spend your day? Are you rushing from activity to activity? Most of us are so busy hurrying from one thing to the next we don’t seem to have enough time to do anything other than move at dangerous speeds. Now it would serve to reason in this day and age of rapid technology we would have extra time. Think of the minutes and hours microwaves save over conventional ovens, emails over longhand correspondence, texting over phoning. What happens though is we overextend ourselves and have no spare time. As one writer said, “No wonder we have the attention span of a ferret on cappuccino”.
As teachers, one of the reasons we seem to have so little time is we give and give until there is nothing left in us. We go to the soccer game, agree to sponsor the debate club, and/or give up our planning period to watch another teacher’s class. It’s expected of us, and it’s wearing on us. It doesn’t provide the feeling of fulfillment we need.
Choice Literacy posted a blog recently that talked about this very thing. The article gave examples of many of the additional activities we take on because it’s expected of us. The author suggested that instead of working under the umbrella of expectations to find the umbrella of the unexpected. In other words instead of taking on something the administration, your peers, or whomever else expects you to do but leaves you unfulfilled, find something you want to do that excites both you and the students. It can be something as simple as unexpectedly showing up for a band concert some of your class is in. It could be more long term such as unexpectedly offering to provide help to a student who needs it.
Not too long ago I decided to start an after school boys’ writing club. It would run for six weeks and be student driven. When the boys in the club arrived the first afternoon and learned how the club would work, they couldn’t contain their excitement. I couldn’t either! We were both infused with energy and a sense of fun. The boys weren’t told what to write or what could be in the pieces they wrote (i.e. violence). They just needed to write which they did ferociously. When the sixth week came, we were all sad to see the club end, but we were all left feeling fulfilled instead of empty. Since it was a choice for the boys to take part, and something they didn’t expect to come along their way they began and ended each session with enthusiasm. It gave me a sense of giving something of myself which I enjoyed and was of my own volition. It made such a difference in how I felt about myself and my job.
Whenever possible in all areas of our lives we need to shed as many of the “expected” activities as is reasonable and take on the unexpected ones. Being fulfilled oftentimes means surprising others with a random act of kindness…something unexpected!