Chris Neville - Ah-Ha for Saturday 10/25

In our discussion about motivation, Dr. Clauson brought up his recent visits to some schools and whenever he went into teacher lounges or lunchrooms, he heard nothing but war stories of how bad these teacher's situations were. He then looked to the PPT and noted that overall satifaction of teachers is high. I suddenly came up with what I consider to be a great analogy to these feelings almost all teachers have; the recreational golfer. You bring 2 to 8 golfers of any ability together and they will complain to each other about how bad they are playing. Yet most are completely addicted to the game. Why?? Because once or twice everytime we play, we hit a shot the way it is supposed to be hit. We read the break of the green just right and actually hit the ball where we aim and the hole gets in the way of the ball. When that happens on the golf course, all the bad shots of that day fade away for a time, but we don't dare talk about those 2 good shots much for fear we will jinx it for the next time. It is the same with the classroom. We complain about the morons openly to colleagues; but when the light goes on (or gets a little brighter) in just one or two of our students per day or per week, we celebrate it in our hearts and minds - and usually don't tell a soul - just in case it may happen again tomorrow. But it is those kids that keep us coming back day after day, year after year. We're addicted - and we cannot wait to get back in there and play with them again :)