ESGI News - April 2009

"REFOCUS" and Benefit

The joy of teaching can't be taught, but it can be lost. By this stage in the school year you may be experiencing long-term exhaustion and diminished enthusiasm for your teaching goals. This spring, take time to disburden and reorganize so you can regain your enthusiasm for the end of the school year.

At the start of every school year, energy levels are high as you and your students envision the endless possibilities for learning. By now some of your pupils may be struggling with academics and with problems at home. Distractions and discouragement limit their interest and their educational success. The result is that your lessons prove less effective than your ideal and you are drained of emotional energy and of control over your class.

Only by calm, purposeful and coordinated actions can you regain your teaching enthusiasm and confidence, and assist your students in their struggles. Try this REFOCUS strategy. REFOCUS stands for: Recognize, Empower, Focus, Objectivize, Commit, Unburden and Surprise.

Recognize
Recognize your achievements thus far. Remind yourself of the lessons that were well received; the visuals that supported difficult concepts; the assignments that sparked creative thinking and the innovative ways in which you involved your students. Give yourself a pat on the back for these achievements.

Empower
Create a list of your strengths as a teacher. When are you at your best in the classroom? List your five greatest personal achievements in the past year. When your students return from break, ask them to share the favorite things they've learned this year. Encouraging them to remember and publicly affirm their academic achievements helps motivate and energize learners.

Focus
Concentrate your attention on the material to be learned in the second half of the year. Take a quick look at your initial goals for the class. Are you on track? Will there be enough time? No? Then develop a better management strategy for the remainder of the year. When time is short and learning is proceeding slowly, work on the material that will bring the greatest reward with the least effort.

Objectivize
Create learning targets to guide your post spring break efforts. Learning targets are a series of statements that describe levels of performance increases that are required for your students to advance.

Commit
After you visualize your goal and create specific, measurable learning targets for your students, commit to achieving them. To reach your goal you'll need a strong commitment, one that will not waver as you encounter difficulties. Ask your students to continue to do their best to learn in the last months of the school year.

Unburden
You don't have to be perfect; you just have to be yourself. Look for barriers to learning that hold your students back. Question your assignments and tests and align them to your learning targets.

Surprise
During the second half of the school year variety is often desperately needed to keep your students motivated. Think up a few "surprise teaching techniques" and try them out after the break.

A REFOCUS strategy can help reenergize you and your students!