If you are a teacher, you probably have seen that one video, the one where a wise lady in red stands before a crowd and gives a speech about being there for children. I have seen that motivational video played for us teachers every year since I have started this journey as a teacher. That lady is Rita Pierson. Her iconic speech for teachers is truly powerful and I love it. However, there's one motivational video that first inspired me, and it happened to not be by an adult but by a child.
First, here's the video of the iconic speech by Rita Pierson, in case your principal has lived under a rock and never thought to share this at one of your staff meetings:
Now onto the real motivational video for teachers. I first saw a video back in the spring of 2009 when a professor decided to show our class a video about a boy who spoke to a whole stadium of teachers about the need for all teachers to believe in their students. The boy is Dalton Sherman and his speech about how students count on their teachers is one of the reasons that helped me realize that teaching was my calling. In a lot of ways, the things he says in his iconic video is very similar to the message that Rita Pierson presented to a very similar crowd. In both speeches, they admit that children can be a little annoying sometimes. But they also admit that, at the core of it all, those same kids are the ones that really need the nurture and protection from their educator because most children lack that same care at home.
However, I think even that video by Dalton Sherman is no longer his best motivational video for teachers. Instead, it is one that was made not that long ago. In this video, Dalton is now a teenager. The crowd is not as enthused as the previous one, but his new message still has the magic that the former one possessed. In the video, he asks teachers to not give up on teaching but find their joy again.
The reason I say this is the real motivational video for teachers is due to it being real. At some point in our early career, we were inspired to take that jump and become a teacher. Over the years, we have encountered the many work hours, lost weekends, and family sacrifices. We have had to jump through hoops, fear evaluations, change our teaching strategies with every new school training, and deal with school politics just to do what we were called to do - teach. That does not even include having to figure out how to manage a classroom with that "one" student present (every teacher has that "one" student), or help each child become somebody great by strengthening all their weaknesses. After so many times of enduring these things, we do get burned out. Some great teachers quit teaching. Some great teachers become terrible ones due to stress. Yet, some great teachers continue forward and view it as weathering the storm. Dalton Sherman has a point: we teachers need to find our joy again so that we can continue doing our calling. Kids need us. They may not understand it or even want the help, but they need us as teachers.
It is great to be motivated by joyous speeches filled with laughter, especially when the teacher is just starting out and is very naive about teaching. However, teachers also need the videos that tell them to continue onward, even though the road is rough, because the hard work will pay off if we do not give up but find our joy again.