What You Truly Need to Grow as a Teacher.

Teachers grow. They do. And I am not talking about professional development and conferences and workshops. Teachers grow into or out of their profession.

When teachers grow into their profession, they find their sweet spot in it. They develop the level of comfort, efficiency, and happiness that make them feel they are in the right place. It might take a year or 5, but usually, 5 years is said to be the period when a young or enter-level teacher decides on staying in or leaving the profession.

Some teachers grow out of their profession, literally. There are those professionals who, after trying to adjust and find whether they belong, come to a conclusion they need to try something else because teaching happened to be not for them. And that’s OK.

The result of a teacher growing into or out of the profession always comes after soul-searching, efforts to fit it, book-reading, seminar attending and realization that something needs to happen.

In this post, I want to share 6 things I believe every teacher should DO to make a decision to grow into or out of the profession.

Separate yourself from downers and complainers.

You are an average of the five people you hang out with. There are complainers and downers in every profession.

Being a new teacher, I felt it was extremely damaging for me to be in the PD workshop where some teachers (usually with more experience) would talk about what they, their kids, or the whole system lacks, and why this profession is doomed. As a new teacher, I felt lost and unsupported.

While some people usually tend to complain and be loud in their own misery, I found that there was always a group of teachers who would have a smile on their faces, who would shake off the negativity and instead talk about solutions and how we could grow from our problems.

What I understood quickly is that my well-being as a new teacher depended on the people I surround myself with. And what I did is I isolated myself from downers and complainers, and I started searching for relationships with teachers whose classes and personality inspired me.

The mental place I am at right now, the balance, and the level of happiness I gained are thanks to the communication with individuals, mentors, administrators that I found extremely supporting and inspiring.

Mastering few but better tools.

We often feel we are not enough. We often think we need to be more, do more. The truth is simplicity is the key. Less is more.

Honing one skill, the area of knowledge is always better and will yield more result in the end. Mastering few or even one tool a year or in your career is vital for professional growth.

Are you a master in creating resources that target vocabulary? This might be your magic master tool. Are great at creating a project-based learning environment? Then this is your mojo. Are you a great motivator? This is why you are valued, and nothing else should matter to you.

Choosing the one or few things you want to master is possible through asking yourself a few honest questions about what really ignites you in your work. What can you do every day with passion and dedication regardless of the circumstances and difficulties? If the object of your love and commitment is what keeps you in this profession or make you make up with a smile, then you found your zone of mastery.

Develop it, work on it. This is who you are, this is your unique value.

Invest in the relationship with students.

There are many things you cannot control in your profession. Many things can happen when you are not prepared or ready to handle this. There are many things you possibly will need to learn or change or develop. But one thing became apparent to me during my first year of teaching as a high school ESL teacher: establishing a relationship with students is a must.

Whether you have these relationships or they are missing will determine every aspect of your work and well-being as a teacher. They say students learn most from people who like them and whom they like most. The relationship with students is a foundation for anything you do in a classroom. And when it’s missing, nothing will work, remember that.

Usually, the best and appropriate time to work on your relationships with students is September, October. These are the month when the magic happens. Throughout the year you can modify, clarify, or reinforce the rule of your relationship, but it all should start in September and continue in October. There are tons of online resources on this topic. Choose the most interesting. Bring them into your classrooms at the beginning of the year and start the nurturing process. It will pay off.

Find a mentor!

While it might seem obvious, many confuse a true mentor with a first-year-teacher mentor. It might not be the same. My first-year-teacher mentor assigned to me by the district was an excellent professional, but my true mentor who helped me in transforming my ideas about teaching was my colleague.

I guess I would define a mentor as the person you click with professionally. This is the person who shows you the light amid the storm you are living or working through. It’s the person whose ideas show you a clear pathway to working smarter not harder.

By the way, your mentor does not have to be a person in your school or even a teacher. A mentor could be an online coach, podcaster, blogger who share the same set of beliefs as you do, whose work you listen to or read in episodes, blog posts, online discussion groups. Find this person, and stick to him/her like glue. Learn. Grow.

Find PD that speaks to you.

It’s funny, but I remember my first PD just because it was terribly senseless. The topic was SGO. Not only did I have no idea about what SGO was, I felt stupid even being there. It was frustrating and scary.

I honestly dislike most PDs usually organized by school districts because they are full of theory. Rarely there is a PD that kicks my socks off, although things happen.

Having said that, I can tell my most valuable professional development moments happened when I was listening to a podcast, or reading a blog post, or talking to a colleague, observing someone’s class, or even doing self-reflection based on how my day in school went.

I’m a visual person. I learn when I see. My true mentor once invited me to visit any class of hers when I have time. I would be in her class every day for 2 hours, during my lunch and prep time. I’ve learned from observing her lessons more than I ever learned in schools PDs.

The lesson is: find your PD source. Don’t feel guilty about anything.

Find your WHY.

I once decided for myself that I will always set boundaries between work and my personal time. Such a separation works well for me. I rarely take work home, I rarely think about work at home.

This dramatically changed how I perceive my profession and almost eliminated any stress.

My “why” for what I do is the following: I work because I affect students’ life. My objective is to get to know them, grow trust, offer tools for them to learn the language and the culture. If they know I care about my students, they will most likely to learn. To do that, to be most productive and resourceful at work I cannot let work interfere with my personal time.

I treat a job like a job. When I fully enjoy my offs from school, then I work most efficiently, and I feel happy.

Your “why” is like a principle you follow in your profession. It determines how you work and who you are.

Most importantly, it has to work for you. Not for school, not for a noble idea, not for Pinterest views. It has to work for you only. Therefore, be honest about how much of “you” you can dedicate to school. Never feel guilty about your decision. Indeed, great teachers don’t always have picturesque classrooms. It’s who you are, not the stuff you brought in.

Have a happy day! Keep creating!

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