Doing the Impossible

“It is kind of fun to do the impossible.” Walt Disney

 There are many aspects of teaching that are literally impossible.  In no other line of work are professionals expected to have a 100% success rate without resources, funding, or support from the public.  Teachers are expected to perform miracles with children who are abused, malnourished, economically underprivileged, intellectually challenged, and socially backward – and they do!  Those everyday miracles are why many of us signed up for this career of service and it IS fun to tackle impossible feats with and for the children.

Unfortunately, legislators and policy makers have failed to account for those obstacles and the miracles that are being performed, and their oversight has led to an era of standardization and accountability that is a whole new level of impossible.  Now, in addition to dealing with all of the scenarios that our children struggle with every day, teachers also have to find ways to prepare multifaceted unique little individuals to take the same exact tests.  Then, to make things even better, someone thought it would be a brilliant idea to tie teacher evaluations to the results from those standardized tests. 

Just to recap, this means that one compassionate, well-educated teacher now has to educate 20-30 individual students who may or may not have food, love, or a safe environment at home and who may or may not be able to learn well or interact with others socially.  Then, that teacher must ensure that each child scores high enough on a test so that that they don't get reprimanded professionally.  Sounds easy – no stress there, right?

It is no wonder all of my social media feeds have been full of stories about teachers burning out, switching careers, and crying on their way home from work.  The best title I’ve seen so far was, “Teaching is like an Abusive Relationship – You Only Stay for the Kids”.  When I saw the “likes”, shares and comments on that one, I knew that the blogger’s analogy was more powerful than most of us want to admit.

Although I could probably keep going and maybe even make a career from blogging about the problems in education, I believe that we get more of what we look for and that means I will keep looking for what is right in education so we can get more of those things. In my recent blogs and videos and in the Empowered Educator Facebook group, I’ve been devoting a lot of time to the best ways for teachers and administrators to turn obstacles into opportunities.  This quest has empowered me to collaborate with the most amazing people and made me even more passionate about the need for change, so Walt Disney’s quote has really become an important reminder and inspiration for me.

I know that teacher stress levels are at an all-time high and I am obviously aware of the reality of the situation, but I truly believe that teaching really can be the most fun profession on the planet!  I know I am an eternal optimist, but I also know that there are enough dedicated, passionate, and brilliant people involved in education that we can turn it around if we can catch our breath and shift the focus. 

It IS fun to do the impossible, so I have a question and a challenge for every teacher or professor who reads this blog.  First, leave a comment and let me know what you are doing to make your impossible tasks and requirements more fun.  Then, sign up for the 5-Day Empowered Educator Challenge so we can work together to infuse more creativity, compassion, and confidence into our lives in and out of the classroom.

If you get stuck or feel like fun can’t happen because of the overwhelming challenges, just remember all that Walt Disney was able to create with just a dream and a mouse.  If teachers came together with a shared vision of educational innovation and a renewed sense of purpose, the magic would be limitless and I think we owe it to ourselves and to our kids to try.