Goal 20: Confront the Issues of The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators
“One of the most difficult things everyone has to learn is that for your entire life you must keep fighting and adjusting if you hope to survive. No matter who you are or what your position is you must keep fighting for whatever it is you desire to achieve.” ~ George Allen, Sr.
This year’s 30 Goals Challenge theme is, “This is MY Moment.” Each goal focuses on getting educators to believe their plans of action now will lead to positive changes and transformation in their teaching and learning environments. Join our our 30 Goals Facebook community to vote on goals and receive support.
My Reflection
There are some days that being a teacher is the most rewarding job in the world. Those moments when we end the day and we feel we impacted 1, 2, 3… of their lives. We had that teachable moment, saw they digested it, and we helped them realize something truly incredible about life, learning or themselves. I dearly hold onto to those moments to help me survive other days.
There are some days that being a teacher is the toughest job in the world. Those days when your student passes away over dumb choices or you have to face your students and you’re dealing with death, divorce, health issues, and tragedy. We have picked a profession where we have to care so much for others and some days it takes all your energy just to want to get out of bed. This year has been like that for me. And this week, especially, has been very challenging. So how do we survive and keep going?
I think we have to confront the issues we face and sometimes communicate with our students versus bottling these issues up. Sometimes, smiling and pretending life is ok is not good for us nor our students. However, this also depends on the ages of your students. Sometimes, they are too young to be faced with serious talks but we can say, “Today, your teacher is not feeling so great.” And we can get their hugs and it makes life a lot better.
This activity wasn’t part of learning objectives or the curriculum but in the end it doesn’t matter if my learners achieve these aims if they don’t get to live. Somedays, we need to confront issues and deal with the reality of their lives and our lives. We aren’t superhuman. We aren’t superheroes. We are teachers and human beings sharing the same struggles they will face one day. I think that’s the best and toughest part of being a teacher.
For this goal:
Short-term goal– Confront an issue with one of your classes or learners. Be responsible and think about their ages and how to best approach the issue before doing this.
Long-term goal– Try to integrate tasks and activities in your curriculum in which students have the opportunity to reflect on their choices and can plan for those tough times in their lives.
Challenge:
Confront an issue.
Please leave a comment that you accomplished this goal by either posting your own video reflection on Youtube, using the hashtag #30GoalsEdu, posting on the 30 Goals Facebook group, or adding a comment below! All goals are organized in this 30 Goals Livebinder.
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