Meta objective
When you teach a class of kids there are two objectives.
The surface objective: The educational deliverable (times tables, a song, handwriting skills)
And then there is the meta objective.
The meta objective is the underlying lesson you want your students to absorb.
The beliefs in themselves or about the world and the people in it. It might be the ability to seek the answers they need or how to work as a team. Or how to solve interesting problems.
The meta objective is a bit of a through-line and won’t change much day to day.
Ask your self: What do I want my students to fundamentally believe?
The answer to a question like that is the meta objective. The meta objective is never to be spoken outloud- that’s too obvious. And it probably won’t go ‘in’ if you do.
It’s much more powerfully communicated through the way you interact, how you teach, how you speak, what you’e doing when your students think you think you’re alone.
Choose your meta objective wisely- it’s where all our power lies as teachers.
The kind choice
We always have a choice in the way we communicate.
We can let our mood make a choice by default.
Or we can be intentional about the way we want the other person to feel.
You always have the choice to be kind and make someone feel seen, heard and safe.
So it’s up to you.
All you need
If we can choose beliefs…
…and we act in accordance with the beliefs that we have…
…then we should probably choose beliefs that serve us.
For instance: you have everything you need already within you to do all you ever want to do.
If that were true, how would your life be different?
Might be time to adopt the belief aye?
You choose
How you hold your body is how you appear to the world.
And, happily, how you hold your body will eventually affect your mood.
You should choose that pretty carefully too then
Your verb
What you do, you are.
What are the verbs you use most often?
To love, to honour, to perfect, to listen…
Choose wisely
Magic
“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When in doubt, help
Ever feel bored, useless, hopeless or aimless?
Yeah me too.
Here’s a new mantra I live by:
When in doubt, help.
There’s always someone to help,
Some situation to improve
or some value to give
Old things
Today I finally sorted through the boxes I’d boxes been storing at my parents place
Old letters, post cards, school books, journals and artefacts from the last 30 years.
I’d been avoiding it to for the longest time, dreading dredging up old emotions and cringey memories.
But it was pretty wonderful.
The boxes zipped me back and forward in time as I read, remembered (or didn’t remember what so ever) moments in time from my life so far.
If you’re avoiding going into your boxes, can I suggest you jump in.
It’s like a little microcosm of life; you might try and avoid it because of the heart ache.
But of course in equal measure comes the magic and having one means you get the other.
Love your memories.
Holiday
I like the word holiday.
Labels are good, not only to retrospectively label an experience…
…but also to decide what an experience will be in advance.
You can call anything a holiday and it’ll feel a little different.
I’m away for exactly two nights, and I’ve decided it’s a holiday.
And it feels lovely.
Passion cuts through
You might not need killer productivity
Or the best ideas
and you might not to be the best.
All you need it passion. That vital SPARK that emboldens others, makes them their best and brings out your best.
I’m pretty sure just priming this state each day is about 80% of the battle.