The Big Question
Beside doing this blog, I also send out a weekly newsletter called the Sunday Spirit Spark as well as host a podcast called Teacher Tales.
You can check all of these out at Spirit of Teaching
I started this journey for the Spirit of Teaching during the pandemic when I witnessed my beloved friends and colleagues and profession struggling and suffering and losing their compass and direction.
The question that came up a lot was WHY?
Why should I keep doing this when kids don’t even show up for the Zoom meeting or keep their cameras on or do their work or ???
Why should I put my health and well-being on the line in a pandemic?
Why should I even care if no one else cares?
Why? Why? Why? echoed through the hearts of teachers across the world more than ever before.
In fact, post-pandemic, it is still simmering in the background of every teacher’s mind as more and more challenges come about.
Challenges like teachers being told that they can’t teach certain things or have certain books in their libraries or talk about certain topics or do certain activities in class o push back against excessively aggressive and bullying parents and students. The list goes on…
The big question in the classroom has always been and always will be WHY?
So, today I was doing a podcast recording with a teacher who said that in order to keep his focus and stay in the profession, he had to always remind himself of his “WHY?”
Why did I become a teacher?
Why do I show up every day at school?
Why ___________? fill in the blank
As those of us in the profession know, the answer to that question is the highest level of thinking in Bloom’s Taxonomy.
There are a lot of questions asked every single day in the classroom, but any question that starts with this interrogative pronoun WHY is the most critical and essential.
For the students:
Why am I learning this?
Why am I here?
Why should I do this?
Why are you asking me that?
Why? Why? Why?
For the teachers:
Why am I teaching this?
Why am I here?
Why should I do it that way?
Why are you asking me that?
Why? Why? Why?
Being curious, exploring, discovering and learning the answers to all those WHYs is the reason for being…a student…a teacher…a human being!
The answers to all the WHYs in the world make up the compass that keeps us on our path and moving in the direction we want to go.
When we lose sight of our WHY, we can’t see our way forward and we get lost.
In fact, think of a Y in the road that can give you two different directions and paths.
The most important thing we need to ask ourselves and get clear on is the answer to make a choice as to which path we take is to answer all those WHY questions in our head, but most importantly, in our heart.
So, like the most curious two-year-old in the world, just keep asking WHY until you get all the answers you need to quiet your mind, warm your heart and settle your soul.
Remember your WHY and follow that path, and you will find peace in your heart.
No other big questions needed!
I struggle sometimes with all that I am trying to do with the Spirit of Teaching, but then, I just look back at notes from teachers, parents and other community members from around the world, I am reminded of my WHY and my compass quickly re-directs toward my North Star, and I am home!
If you know of any teacher who would like to share their WHY, nominate them to be a guest on the podcast Teacher Tales here.
Thank you!
Image credit:
“Question mark made of puzzle pieces” by Horia Varlan is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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