Why Broken Hearts Aren't A Bad Thing
From the desk of Alice…
We have decided to take a cue from Brené Brown at ERG and spend a year daring greatly. As part of our year, our theme for January is PASSION. This is one of those things that draws educators right into the idea of teaching. We have a passion of some kind. It’s either passion for the students, passion for the content or possibly passion for both.
Since we are one baby step into 2017, I hope you start to reflect on what drives you. Where are your energies coming from? What gives you satisfaction at the end of each day?
I spent time this week teaching a workshop to adminstrators. I love the content of the workshop because it is heavy on human behavior and motivation theory and we were able to dig into honest conversations related to the real challenges of leading a school. These kinds of conversations feed my passion because they are real. They are real people wrestling with ideas and considering ways to help teachers and students be successful. Turns out, that is part of my passion. Helping adults who ultimately help students.
You see, your passion tends to be the thing that breaks your heart. And it is different for all of us. When I think about students who have no advocates and no voice, my heart breaks into a million pieces. This is a driving force behind the decisions I make professionally and one of the reasons why I am willing to spend my days supporting adults who support students. It matters. This is also why I become enraged when people start to use the term, “these kids” as if we have no relationship with them and they are someone else’s problem.
YOUR passion is important and I hope you start to consider what is currently breaking your heart. Having it break is important in this process because that is exactly how you find out what is driving you. Too often we try to ignore what is upsetting us in schools because we feel overwhelmed or completely defeated. If you currently feel broken, know you are not alone. If you are trying to untangle emotions and thoughts related to the current educational climate, you are doing important work. You could be feeling a tiny tug, a nagging pull or a giant knot in the pit of your stomach. It is these very things that will lead you in the correct direction to make a difference in the world of education.
Talk to each other. Share your visions, your ideas, and your (possibly broken) educational hearts.
This is where you begin to align your passion and your work.
Happy New Year 2017!
~ A