How My Former Teachers Keep Inspiring Me
These guys take favorite teacher status to a new level.
Being in my Sophomore year of college, I am getting farther and farther removed from high school. As opposed to the beginning of Freshman year, no one really discusses high school all that often. And when they do it isn't anything too exciting for most people, but for my friends from home and I, it is such a joy.
I have people comment all the time on the fact that when I talk about high school I get way more excited than most people and that I keep in touch with more of my teachers than they do. And to that I reply with "yeah, I guess my high school experience was a rare one, I had such a good time." And that I owe to some of the best, most supportive, real teachers around.
Pursuing a career teaching high school I often think about what I want to be like around my future students. While doing this I often think if the best teachers I had and why they stood out to me.
I had teachers that constantly joked around with my peers and me, but could then settle the classroom down for a lesson just as casually as they had got us railed up. I want to be like that. I had teachers that made me want to come to them with exciting news, hot gossip, and my frustrations and that is because they took a genuine interest in my accomplishments and emotions. I want to be like that too.
Often times it is the little things. My favorite parts of the day usually were going into a teacher's classroom and them saying some funny little thing to me as I entered the classroom. Or asking me to stay back as everyone was leaving and them asking about something I had mentioned earlier in the week.
I also had extracurricular teachers that knew how to make a big impact in the little time they had with us. In yearbook, we had dance parties all the time and vent sessions and parties occasionally creating the class we saw as an escape from the others, but through even all those activities I was learning how to lead an entire staff, coordinate coverage, prepare for deadlines, and have an eye for design. It is really quite brilliant how all these things could co-exist.
Then there were the teachers who never gave up on me. I am probably one of the least coordinated people you will ever meet and because of this, I had full-well intended my athletic career to end with fifth-grade softball and dance classes. But then the two tennis coaches who I had also had as teachers in middle school encouraged me to be the tennis team manager freshman year to just check out the program. With great hesitation, I joined the team sophomore year and it ended up being one of the best things for me in high school. I never would've given it a second thought freshman year had the coaches not made me feel so comfortable and accepted at any skill level.
Now that I'm out of high school they still continue to impact my life. A message checking in every now-and-then goes such a long way and every time I am in town and see them it's like we never skipped a beat. I learned so much from all of these people and most of all that is how to carry myself with grace, have confidence, and compassion when I have the opportunity to step into their shoes in a few years.
So to all of you, and you know who you are, thanks so much for giving me knowledge, joy, an understanding mind to pick, and a great example as to what I want to be one day. I'm sure you are all chuckling at the thought of me being unleashed with hundreds of my own students one day, and I'll for sure keep you updated.
5 Respectful And Empowering Ways To Handle Rejection
Not everyone will like you, but not everyone has to.
You work hard, you do the right thing, and the inevitable happens. Someone comes along and begins to give you a backhanded compliment, or if you have the misfortune, a backhanded comment. You are left with a bad taste in your mouth and your day starts to turn sour. When people belittle you and your efforts, here are five respectful and empowering ways to sweeten those moments of rejection.
1. Never give someone a reason to not like you.
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People will say what they want and think what they want, no matter the subject or person of choice. It will not matter who you are or what you do, someone or another manages to pay you their two cents. You have to remember, you did not give them reasons to justify their words or actions towards you. These people who exhibit unwarranted thoughts about you are just another drop in the ocean. They do not define your good intentions or self-worth. They are not for you and you need not place any investigation or worry into the mystery of why they do not like you. You do not have to reason with them any further. Simply look forward to the people who care to be curious and open-minded about you.
2. Kill them with kindness.
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The dead push up daisies, but you plant the seed. Some people will smile proudly knowing they have said something cruel or disheartening to get a rise out of you but look at this as an opportunity. Every moment is a chance for you to choose how you react. Ten percent of life is what happens to you, it is out of your control. Ninety percent of life is what you do about it. Use your words to encourage, not discourage, civil discourse. Say what matters and say it with an honest purpose. State your case and let them respond how they will; you cannot control others, but you can control yourself. Be a good example others have yet to show themselves.
3. Turn the "No's" into a "Yes."
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The poet Sylvia Plath had this to say about rejection: "I love my rejection slips. They show me I try." She was talking about the process of writing literary submissions for publication, but her attitude still stands. This is the mindset it takes to find the success you want out of life. Despite all the people that deny you and your work, there are people that see potential and promise in you. It does not matter how many people say "No" to you. What does matter is the number of times you can get back to work and look forward to that one "Yes." You are working for the "Yes's" in your life. Forget the dream-killers and eye-rollers, they lack the hope and drive you have in what you do. They do not do what you do and do not do it like you do. For every "No" there is a "Yes."
4. Let your work speak for you.
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Sometimes no matter how endearing your elevator pitch sounds or how carefully crafted your resume is, people still find fault where there might not even be any. Your accomplishments are your own and that is something to take pride in. Of course, the right amount of pride separates you from the rest and for the better. Pride and confidence must not become virtues or vices that exceed who you are. The work you put out is an extension of who you are and no one can take that away from you. Work speaks for itself and yourself best, so focus on your goals and let your results stand in for your words people did not value. Your best is rarely seen at the moment of inspiration, usually after the final stroke of the brush has wet the canvas. It is your goal to show that stalwart work ethic in good times and in bad.
5. Your process will protect you.
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Keep working. Rule out the distractions and the doubts, the fears, and the flippant fools. Know that your process will save you in trying times. Work against all odds. At some point, things turn even and add up, but you have to be dedicated and diligent. Your sights are seen only through your eyes and your need is to show others what you see. Until then, your skill, your talent, will be honed with consistency. Show up to your work even when you have not been hit with inspiration. The Kodak moment will present itself through your process. Due diligence is the price of success. Eyes on the prize and nose to the grindstone. No one knows your work better than you.
Be the trampoline that bends the will of gravity-like rejection long enough until you can fly.