Teacher Motivation Tip

Your Teacher Treasure Chest

One of the best ways to gain energy and get motivated when you are feeling drained is to visit your "teaching treasure chest." This is a place where I keep many of the cards, pictures, and notes I have received over the years from students and parents.

Often times it is easy to focus on the problems or people that drain us of energy. Keep in mind that probably 95% of our interactions with students and parents are positive.

You need to keep those reminders close at hand and when you are having a down day, or questioning why you teach, reach into that treasure chest and pull out and read some of those notes of appreciation. It really does help you to realize that you do make a difference in the lives of your students.

In these days of email you may also want to print out positive communication from others or keep it in an electronic file you can access.

You can also make a collage of the notes and hang it where you can see it each day. You can take pictures or scan the notes to your computer and have an electronic collage which you can also use as a screen saver.

This can be a fun project to organize all those notes you haven't known what to do with and you can keep adding to it each year.

I really do treasure the notes I have received because it reminds me of the relationships that have been formed over the years.

They are such a wonderful source of encouragement and it really is one of the riches in teaching, knowing that I am appreciated and have made a difference.

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