 |
| I know that I’m taking a risk here with this week’s title, throwing it out blithely to an audience professionally trained to be skeptical of the positive and always to look carefully and deeply for the potential negatives of any situation. But please (please!) bear with me.
As we officially head into autumn, with its dwindling daylight hours, intensifying grading loads, fluctuating student (and faculty) energy, and seemingly perpetual chaos in our information streams, it can be easy to focus on frustrations and challenges in the classroom. One small thing not going as planned in one class on one day can leave us feeling like the whole semester is out of our control. Building practices that help us check our momentary despair and refocus on the satisfying and productive moments of teaching is crucial not only to our own states of mind but to effective teaching and scholarship. Moving into October, I encourage you to consider your own practices for affirming your positive (even joyous) moments in your teaching. Do you stay for a few minutes and talk with students about an especially engaged moment in class? Do you stop and chat with a colleague about your most recent teaching victory? Do you ask them about theirs? When you get home, is the first thing that you share—in person, on the phone, in a text, or with your pet hedgehog—your favorite moment of student learning that day, rather than your greatest frustration (which might seem less disappointing by tomorrow)? I love Sarah Rose Cavanaugh’s recent essay, “How to Get Through the Year, and Maybe Even Thrive,” where she reminds us that “Savoring pleasures and focusing on the positives may do more than contribute to individual well-being. They can also help us collectively confront threats and challenges.” Owning our fulfilling moments of teaching and learning is not about ignoring problems or dismissing opportunities for improvement. Accentuating positive moments fosters the energy we need to persist through all the other, more difficult, parts of our days. I hope you’ll join us for next week’s Teaching Matters, for an opportunity to talk about why we teach, which is about small moments of satisfaction as well as deeply held principles and lofty goals. And if you need some extra encouragement to savor the positive moments on a regular basis, Aretha Franklin has your back. Karen |