Teacher Job: Self-worth and
Self-motivation
A lot of philosophical and academic questions have been asked about teaching: whether it is a profession or not; whether it is a thankless job or not and whether it is a noble job or not. Depending on who is answering and what they focus on as they answer, the effects of those answers have been very encouraging
and positive or very discouraging and negative. As a teacher and your response
or reactions to these answers depend on what your values are, both as a person
and as a teacher.
Self esteem or self worth starts with you. No one can hold you in high esteem if you
do not hold yourself in that regard. No one can value your job if you do not
value it yourself. No one can respect your job if you do not respect it
yourself. Your job will be perceived by others based on how you feel about it.
If you are not a proud teacher and you go round showing that you are not proud
of your job and what you are trained to do then you are selling yourself to the
outsiders as a dissatisfied and misplaced employee who chose to waste time
studying for a career that does not satisfy you and which you do not believe in.
This attitude translates itself into negative attitude towards work, frequent
criticisms of anything about your job or your supervisors, mounting frustrations
towards your pupils and colleagues and finally lack of motivation for anything
professional.
Once you are in this stage described above, we say you are“stuck in a rut”. This is
not a good state of being for any professional especially if you do not have
alternative escape routes. And before you realise it, you would have been a
dissatisfied and grumbling teacher for ten years without any
progress!
How does one get out of this rut? Firstly you need a positive mindset. Love your job
and love what you do. It may have been your first choice career or you have
found yourself doing it by accident. But what will make you vibrant, innovative
and motivated is first to love what you are doing and give it your best shot!
This will boost your ability to exploit all the abilities and talents God has
given you. You will adequately sharpen and develop your interpersonal skills as
you interact with colleagues, pupils, employers and parents. You will sharpen
and develop your management skills as you do your best to manage time,
resources, people and programmes entrusted to you. You will sharpen and develop
your planning, monitoring and evaluation skills as you run your day to day
teaching programme with assessments and evaluations of the best practices and
lessons learnt from the previous experiences. You will sharpen and develop your
communication skills as you continue developing ways and strategies of
formulating questions that provoke thinking and creativity, as you master the
art of questioning techniques that produce desired answers and goals, as you
effectively communicate new concepts and ideas with impeccable clarity with a
goal of transmitting new knowledge to your
clients.
The mastery of these skills not only helps build you into a formidable and competent
professional, they also transform you into a self-developed individual that has
the drive to excel at any task thrown into your face because you are already a
highly motivated person. You have driven yourself to that level! It is such
self-motivation and drive that will make you stand out among many colleagues. It
is such a personal drive that will later see you fully equipped to take on huge
challenges later in life. A lot of great leaders heading various national and
international organisations have passed through this career as teachers
themselves, but because they were highly motivated teachers during their time,
their personal and professional development has also rewarded them by taking the
career further to very high levels as leaders in senior roles of
responsibilities.
So teachers, self motivation and passion for whatever you are doing, is the only
way you can achieve satisfaction and growth in your career regardless of whether
you are in a rural or urban set up.
Self-motivation
A lot of philosophical and academic questions have been asked about teaching: whether it is a profession or not; whether it is a thankless job or not and whether it is a noble job or not. Depending on who is answering and what they focus on as they answer, the effects of those answers have been very encouraging
and positive or very discouraging and negative. As a teacher and your response
or reactions to these answers depend on what your values are, both as a person
and as a teacher.
Self esteem or self worth starts with you. No one can hold you in high esteem if you
do not hold yourself in that regard. No one can value your job if you do not
value it yourself. No one can respect your job if you do not respect it
yourself. Your job will be perceived by others based on how you feel about it.
If you are not a proud teacher and you go round showing that you are not proud
of your job and what you are trained to do then you are selling yourself to the
outsiders as a dissatisfied and misplaced employee who chose to waste time
studying for a career that does not satisfy you and which you do not believe in.
This attitude translates itself into negative attitude towards work, frequent
criticisms of anything about your job or your supervisors, mounting frustrations
towards your pupils and colleagues and finally lack of motivation for anything
professional.
Once you are in this stage described above, we say you are“stuck in a rut”. This is
not a good state of being for any professional especially if you do not have
alternative escape routes. And before you realise it, you would have been a
dissatisfied and grumbling teacher for ten years without any
progress!
How does one get out of this rut? Firstly you need a positive mindset. Love your job
and love what you do. It may have been your first choice career or you have
found yourself doing it by accident. But what will make you vibrant, innovative
and motivated is first to love what you are doing and give it your best shot!
This will boost your ability to exploit all the abilities and talents God has
given you. You will adequately sharpen and develop your interpersonal skills as
you interact with colleagues, pupils, employers and parents. You will sharpen
and develop your management skills as you do your best to manage time,
resources, people and programmes entrusted to you. You will sharpen and develop
your planning, monitoring and evaluation skills as you run your day to day
teaching programme with assessments and evaluations of the best practices and
lessons learnt from the previous experiences. You will sharpen and develop your
communication skills as you continue developing ways and strategies of
formulating questions that provoke thinking and creativity, as you master the
art of questioning techniques that produce desired answers and goals, as you
effectively communicate new concepts and ideas with impeccable clarity with a
goal of transmitting new knowledge to your
clients.
The mastery of these skills not only helps build you into a formidable and competent
professional, they also transform you into a self-developed individual that has
the drive to excel at any task thrown into your face because you are already a
highly motivated person. You have driven yourself to that level! It is such
self-motivation and drive that will make you stand out among many colleagues. It
is such a personal drive that will later see you fully equipped to take on huge
challenges later in life. A lot of great leaders heading various national and
international organisations have passed through this career as teachers
themselves, but because they were highly motivated teachers during their time,
their personal and professional development has also rewarded them by taking the
career further to very high levels as leaders in senior roles of
responsibilities.
So teachers, self motivation and passion for whatever you are doing, is the only
way you can achieve satisfaction and growth in your career regardless of whether
you are in a rural or urban set up.