Before I became a teacher, I held down some pretty tough
jobs. One of the toughest jobs I worked
was selling vacuums door to door. I
learned a lot from that job. When you
spend all day long traveling Southwest Kansas trying to peddle $1800 vacuum
cleaners it is imperative to bring your Zig Ziglar tapes along for the ride. If you don’t know who Zig Ziglar is, your
homework assignment (due tomorrow) is to Google Zig Ziglar. During this time of my life, I learned the
importance of positive thinking. Slamming
doors and repeated “no’s” can wear a man down, and a positive frame of mind is necessary
for survival.
Thankfully my vacuum selling days are behind me. However, I thought the lessons of positivity
would last forever, but I have recently found myself in a rut of negativity. This year my teaching responsibilities have
been particularly challenging. I am
dealing with a new breed of students who I have not been trained to tame. My challenges have come from motivating and
teaching a group of very diverse learners.
In each class that I teach, I have students who come from extreme
poverty, struggle with learning disabilities, battle behavior disorders, and
are English language learners. Nearly
every student in my classroom falls into at least one of these “categories.” It is the changing face of this nation, and a
challenge for teachers all throughout our great nation.
The challenges I have faced during this semester have pushed
me to my teaching limit. If I were a bag
of chips, I would currently be the crumbs at the bottom of the bag; I still
taste great and have nutritional value, but I do not pack the punch of a fist
full of whole chips. I have tried every
engagement technique under the sun. I
have worked extremely hard to motivate, teach, and have an impact on these
students’ lives, but I fear I have had little impact. Again, I am facing a new breed of
students. I feel like a scientist trying
to stay one step ahead of an evolving virus strand. It has been a challenge.
Through this challenge, I have become extremely
negative. My wife will attest to that
statement. I can feel myself carrying my
negative attitude home to my family. It
is not fair to my supportive wife and neophyte son. They do not deserve the brunt of my negative
reaction to my challenges at work. What’s
worse is I can also feel myself turning negative on my students. I can sense the negativity seeping out of my
body, and as the negativity comes out, I very quickly realize I am not being an
effective teacher. It makes me feel shameful
and embarrassed, but I have been unable to stop the negative freight train.
The train has to stop now.
If I can stay positive humping around sixty pound vacuums from slamming
door to slamming door, I can surely find a way to be positive working the
greatest job on the face of the planet.
Negativity hasn’t worked. It’s time
to turn a new leaf. Zig Ziglar said, “There
has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.” He’s right.
We live in a world which is already full of negativity. Turn on the news. Negativity.
Turn on a sitcom. Putdowns. Bullying.
Negativity. I cannot control the
world, but I can control my attitude; I can control the things that are said
and done within my four classroom walls.
It will not be easy, but it is time I rewind the ol’ Zig Ziglar tapes
and open the positivity tap. Tuck the
cynical Mr. Coffey back into to bed, and awaken the positive giant. When you’re positive, positive things happen!
