It's easy to get discouraged as an educator since you are often pushing your ideas, beliefs, and abilities up a steep hill--there's often little support for creativity, transformation, and development. Too often the status quo or only ideas from leadership are supported while educators are expected to follow the leader and the directions set. This can often create a discouraging situation for educators who like to grow, evolve, and do the best work possible by each and every student.
Yet if we let this discouragement weigh us down, affect our moods, or stymie our innovation, we won't be the educators we hope to be. So what can we do instead.
First, find the positive, uplifting, and positively challenging educators in your midst, educators who share your goals and passions, and align yourself with those educators.
Next, closely connect with students and their families. Students' families are often an educators' best allies, and those alliances grow the more we demonstrate to families that we truly care about their children and what's best for the children's holistic education program, a program that results in happy, confident, successful student who are proud of their unique qualities, interests and dreams.
And as much as possible steer clear or around the detractors, the people who continually find fault, stymie, and obstruct your ideas, growth, and enthusiasm. Also work to not be one of those people too. Because of the often oppressive environments in schools, we can sometimes be pitted against each other. We must fight that temptation and cultural tendency by working to remake school culture, roles, and routines to better support optimal collaborative culture that works together in service to students, families, and each other.
We can't allow discouragement to create disconnection and apathy. Instead we have to continually coach each other forward in ways that matter, ways that create the same engagement, empowerment, and positive education that we desire for our students. Onward.
