Hand on my heart, sometimes teaching does feel like we’re on a roller coaster. The up side is that as educators and lovers of learning, we have the power to choose which kind of roller coaster ride our teaching journey is going to be.
Think about it.
On one side, there’s an ultra scary roller coaster, which is close to being the scariest ride ever – the one where more often than not, it feels like we’re constantly going to crash. It’s the massive monster ride that starts with a bang and takes us to incredible heights and drops us like there’s no tomorrow. It’s the one where we focus entirely on sticking to deadlines, covering all content and occasionally skimming through crucial material because time is our greatest enemy. This ride gives us the sensation that we will never make it to the very end. Ah yes, it’s nauseating, occasionally frustrating and overall tiring.
In our heart of hearts we know this isn’t the ride for us. We all want to inspire and motivate our students. We hate being perceived as if we’re the enemy instead of becoming the greatest friend a child could ever have. No educator is ever fully happy on this roller coaster.
The next roller coaster ride is more likely to be the option that educators would want to jump on.
This second ride is demanding, yet oh so colourful. It fills us with adrenaline and ignites a passion for life-long learning. It’s extremely rewarding. It has twists and unexpected challenges, which we manage to conquer because we’re truly passionate about learning and have had a love affair with knowledge for our whole life. It’s the ride we dreamt of getting on ever since we decided that teaching was our vocation.
On this ride, every student’s learning journey is a celebration. We are joyous. We mentor students. We work hard to truly make a difference in each child’s life because we know, that they all have different levels of success that they can reach. We master blended learning, we embrace technology as a 21st century tool and get immense satisfaction knowing that we are the reason the next generation will be even better than this one.
This second roller coaster ride is the inspiration of this blog.
It’s the ride we want our teaching journey to be like. We want to boldly face this new generation of learning and know that we’re making a difference. Educators, together we have the power to remind everyone that teachers are the heart of the educational arena and to continue to ensure that classroom based learning remains the most effective educational experience no matter which part of the world we are from.
My fellow educators, wherever you are and whomever you teach – let’s get on the right roller coaster ride, which will ensure that the job is well done… that we give our students even more than is expected and keep learning as we continue to inspire and gain inspiration from each other.
About Sabrina Mulligan
Sabrina Mulligan, is a passionate education enthusiast and content producer. She is inspired by young minds, a promoter of lifelong learning and an advocate of the use of technology in the classroom.
