I struggle sometimes, as a teacher, wondering how to motivate those students who seem to have a very difficult motivating themselves. I have taught for 22 years and have been very blessed to have a variety of students from different walks of life with different disabilities and even those with multiple disabilities. But what all of my former and current students have in common, at some stage of their academic career, is that they struggle with being engaged at the level we teachers would hope for them. So am I just talking about students? Heck no. I'm including myself in that basket also. Although I am loathe to admit it, some teaching days are a struggle to get through. Do my students see that? Am I giving them permission to slack off, too? Or, and this is what I hope for, am I showing them that perfection is unattainable, even for adults. I hope that I can inspire them to brush themselves off, and pick themselves up again...and try, try again. I really can identify with this quote from Abraham Lincoln: "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first hour sharpening the axe." Does this mean procrastinating? Maybe. Does it mean mentally preparing oneself? More likely. So on my 'off' days, maybe my mind, body, soul are rebooting, not procrastinating or just getting by. Maybe I'm preparing for the next big thing. Who knows? But that's my stance, and I'm sticking to it!
