One of the things about teaching that I find both fun and frustrating is my never-ending quest to jazz things up. Whether it's a new textbook, a new way of teaching a concept or a new assignment that I think will work better than the old one, I'm always on the lookout for something new.
This morning, for example, I added two new articles to my list of potential readings for one of my fall classes. I've been teaching it for 6 years and have always felt rushed at the end of the semester, so I decided it was time to re-think things. I'm very excited about the new ideas and optimistic that they'll open the door to new ways of interacting as well as a better set of end-of-semester assignments.
Although I know that this emerges from my own love of learning (and probably the perfectionism I consistently try to keep at bay), I never really thought of it as something that helps me to thrive both personally and professionally until I saw it reflected in this article on the VIA website.
After two years in survival mode, the idea of thriving may feel foreign, at best, or, at worst, like a lot of unnecessary work.
But after the last two years, haven't we earned it?
Over at Organizing by STYLE, I write a lot about operating from our "default settings," as a way of taking charge of our organizational systems. The VIA article makes taking ourselves from surviving to thriving similarly simple. We don't have to do all seven things; we can choose just one that resonates with us and use it as a building block to make things better than they already are.
Looking at my desire to improve (not just my classes, I might add), I see more than half of the attributes in the article in action, but that isn't what matters. What matters is that, in doing these things, I feel a sense of energy and enthusiasm that goes beyond merely putting in the work. That enthusiasm leads to self-improvement, and it also carries over into the classroom so I can help my students to improve.
Which personal attributes in the article call out to you? Will you thrive, or just survive?
