March Madness
I lost my mojo! No seriously. Somewhere between March 1st and today, my mojo left the building and the scary thing is, I have no idea how to get it back! See the thing is, and I am being 100 percent serious here, I blame MARCH! Yup, the whole month of March. I know what you're thinking, how could a month be to blame here? But it's true. When February ended and March slammed in I knew I was in trouble. I mean March is literally tied to the words madness. In fact you can't say March without thinking Madness. And although, I don't play basketball, as a teacher I completely agree with this idea! March is completely mad and it stole my MOJO!
So....Every teacher who teaches has that one month that seems to go on forever. You know the one I am talking about. The month where you count the days to the next break and you realize it is literally and completely one whole month WITHOUT ANY BREAKS! It is every teacher's nightmare. Hands get clammy, you break out in a cold sweat, your mind starts to automatically think of sick days you can take. You may even start to actually cry real tears. For me that month is March. It never ends and it is 31 days long! 31 days you guys! Ok so I know this is the part of the blog where non-teachers start the whole "teachers get too many days off" speech or the "I work without any vacations so suck it up" talk, but guess what you don't work with kids!! I mean c'mon think about it for a moment...5 days a week, 6 hours a day, 30 plus kids and no way out! And yes I know I picked this profession and blah, blah, blah! Listen haters, I LOVE my job. It is the perfect job for me, but sometimes I need a break from my darling students. Sometimes my brain needs a vacation from 8th grade Social Studies, and teaching ELA and making sure I have lessons and powerpoints and sharpened pencils, because God forbid they bring in school supplies....but I regress! Back to March and my lost mojo!
It started about a week ago! Which is surprising because I was feeling pretty good up until then. I was actually starting to think I just might survive March this year and then it hit me one day. The bell rang and kids ran out of the building like their lives depended on it and I sat in my class completely and utterly drained. I didn't even have enough energy to get out of the seat. It was in this moment that I realized March had won and it's prize was my mojo. I just didn't have IT anymore. IT was gone. I had no more ideas. I had no more activities. I had nothing! The bottom line was I WAS TIRED! And please believe me when I say there is no tired like teacher tired!
So now what?? Well I'm not going to lie, I finally mustered enough energy to move my drained body to my car and I called on the gods for help. You know what gods I'm talking about...Tony (Robbins), Rachel (Hollis) and Oprah! If anyone was going to get me through this stump it was them. So I scrolled through my podcast list and frantically started to listen to anyone who would help me. There had to be someone in the podcast universe who had the answer and then it hit me! I had the answer because I had the power! I am an amazing teacher! I love my job and yes, I love my students! My mojo wasn't missing. It hadn't been stolen. It was just hiding underneath all the demands that I had allowed to build up on top of it. March is a month of test prep, of meetings, and professional developments. Its a month of non-stop lessons, and grading, and IEPs. March is hard because I don't allow myself to STOP and recharge every now and then. STOP and RECHARGE! That's it! It was in that moment that I realized that I was just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I had the power ALL along to get my mojo back. All I had to do was stop! Stop and take a moment to think about what was important. Stop and think about how I love my job because I love those "aha" moments! Stop and think about what a great teacher I am.
So teachers...if you find yourself in a month where you are feeling tired and lost. If you feel like your mojo is missing. Stop and take a moment! We get so caught up in ALL the things that are thrown at us on a daily basis, that we sometimes forget that we are teachers! Remember that this busy season will pass and demands will lessen, but the kids will always be there and they are looking to you for guidance. They are looking to you for love. They are looking at you to be their TEACHER. So dig deep, find your mojo, and TEACH! Because that is what you were born to do!
So....Every teacher who teaches has that one month that seems to go on forever. You know the one I am talking about. The month where you count the days to the next break and you realize it is literally and completely one whole month WITHOUT ANY BREAKS! It is every teacher's nightmare. Hands get clammy, you break out in a cold sweat, your mind starts to automatically think of sick days you can take. You may even start to actually cry real tears. For me that month is March. It never ends and it is 31 days long! 31 days you guys! Ok so I know this is the part of the blog where non-teachers start the whole "teachers get too many days off" speech or the "I work without any vacations so suck it up" talk, but guess what you don't work with kids!! I mean c'mon think about it for a moment...5 days a week, 6 hours a day, 30 plus kids and no way out! And yes I know I picked this profession and blah, blah, blah! Listen haters, I LOVE my job. It is the perfect job for me, but sometimes I need a break from my darling students. Sometimes my brain needs a vacation from 8th grade Social Studies, and teaching ELA and making sure I have lessons and powerpoints and sharpened pencils, because God forbid they bring in school supplies....but I regress! Back to March and my lost mojo!
It started about a week ago! Which is surprising because I was feeling pretty good up until then. I was actually starting to think I just might survive March this year and then it hit me one day. The bell rang and kids ran out of the building like their lives depended on it and I sat in my class completely and utterly drained. I didn't even have enough energy to get out of the seat. It was in this moment that I realized March had won and it's prize was my mojo. I just didn't have IT anymore. IT was gone. I had no more ideas. I had no more activities. I had nothing! The bottom line was I WAS TIRED! And please believe me when I say there is no tired like teacher tired!
So now what?? Well I'm not going to lie, I finally mustered enough energy to move my drained body to my car and I called on the gods for help. You know what gods I'm talking about...Tony (Robbins), Rachel (Hollis) and Oprah! If anyone was going to get me through this stump it was them. So I scrolled through my podcast list and frantically started to listen to anyone who would help me. There had to be someone in the podcast universe who had the answer and then it hit me! I had the answer because I had the power! I am an amazing teacher! I love my job and yes, I love my students! My mojo wasn't missing. It hadn't been stolen. It was just hiding underneath all the demands that I had allowed to build up on top of it. March is a month of test prep, of meetings, and professional developments. Its a month of non-stop lessons, and grading, and IEPs. March is hard because I don't allow myself to STOP and recharge every now and then. STOP and RECHARGE! That's it! It was in that moment that I realized that I was just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I had the power ALL along to get my mojo back. All I had to do was stop! Stop and take a moment to think about what was important. Stop and think about how I love my job because I love those "aha" moments! Stop and think about what a great teacher I am.
So teachers...if you find yourself in a month where you are feeling tired and lost. If you feel like your mojo is missing. Stop and take a moment! We get so caught up in ALL the things that are thrown at us on a daily basis, that we sometimes forget that we are teachers! Remember that this busy season will pass and demands will lessen, but the kids will always be there and they are looking to you for guidance. They are looking to you for love. They are looking at you to be their TEACHER. So dig deep, find your mojo, and TEACH! Because that is what you were born to do!
Comments
Post a Comment