Because I believe that your expections should always be a bit high and that any movement or slight improvement towards your goals should be seen as mini-successes/mini steps which you can take pleasure in.  Sometimes its the process and seeing something evolve like the stages in the life of a butterfly that which we can enjoy more that ju8st seeing the finished product.

 

I hope I �m on the right track and that this some how helps you.

Good luck

Barbara

 I guess the answer to your question depends on what sort of a person one is. I for one know that doing your best is worth it, every single time, even when you don �t feel as if it is. Many times in my life I have been in a situation when I felt I �d given my best but it didn �t work, and then somehow, years later you meet somebody who tells you some small good action on your part had changed their lives for the better. Especially we teachers - we have the unique opportunity, a gift I would call it, to change, mould and steer students, and the younger they are, the easier it gets. However, by no means does it signify that our job is easy - it can only get easier once you realize that the only way to do it well is to live it, to give it your best day ba day, not to give up when it seems hopeless. So many people here have shared their difficult experiences with us, and so many of them have got back to us with their reports about how great it was when it worked out well. So many of us sometimes feel like teaching teenagers is a useless waste of time, because nothing interests them and you waste so much energy on motivating them... and then, just so long as you don �t give up, something just happens, it clicks somehow, and you realize you �ve made it! Your best worked! You got them going! They have learned something, whether it be sth about the language, culture, life, themselves, the world... So many people ask us how to teach adults, people burdened with everyday problems and not really motivated (but more blackmailed into studying for the sake of keeping their jobs)... and then they don �t give up, they try, do their best not to give up...and again it works... Even preschoolers - you get a teaching degree and they give you 5-year-olds and you �re supposed to teach them sth; and you �re used to the classroom and all they want to do is play... So you play language and you play classroom with them and they make astounding progress... You can �t expect to get anything if you don �t put anything in. "All it takes for evil to flourish is for a few good men to do nothing" - one of my favourite sayings. But your principal talks about the unhappiness of serious, dedicated people... It shouldn �t be unhappiness, though I admit it feels like that sometimes (I �d call it occasional frustration). But in time, you learn to find your balance, the balance between the real possibilities and your expectations, just as you should in life. If there �s a good mentor, at work or in life, this process can take a shorter time, but it �s a process, like everything else in life, and it gives results. You can �t teach if you stop learning, about yourself, your students, your work, the world.

Giving up on doing your best, because it seems easier, should NEVER be an option for any of us humans. We have all been given such amazing gifts, and once you �ve realized which gifts they are, it �s a sin against nature to ignore it, and not to live it. If you do your best, you can get the best results, or average results, and the worst case scenario is you don �t succeed(though, trust me, you always get to somebody, as long as you �ve tried). In either case - you �ll feel something. If you give up, you know what you get??? Nothing! All you feel is emptiness - you �ll never know what could have, should have been... You feel cheated by - yourself.

To sum up, again - it depends how serious you feel about teaching. But doing your best is what everyone should do, regardless of their profession, regardless of the situation.

 
Barabara, what she means that "if u take things seriously and this leads u to unhappiness not cuz of the results only but due to the load and stress, pressure u put urself in.. Is it worth it??



More replies will be appreciated.

Teaching used to be a respected and honorable profession. In recent years, the Educational System all over the world has deteriorated into political infighting, litigation, and a loss of focus. In essence, for those pig-headed politicians becoming a teacher is no longer worth it. So, teachers can�t expect much from their administrators, as the administrators themselves are at a higher level of that political infighting than teachers are. Intruder-teachers, too, represent the worst and ugliest facet of �TEACHING � with their opportunism and hypocrisy.
In a word, the teaching community has allowed itself to be held hostage by a few very negative people.
So, if you are really �Devoted �, you have to learn how to say �NO �.

Added to that I have to say that, over the years in my teaching career I�ve learnt to say no to many things, but I refuse to lose all the heart and eagerness that I put in my work, just because the sistem, the parents, the principal, etc. can�t realize that OF COURSE IT�S WORTH IT...you don�t do it for them, you do it for your students.

Cheer up!!!! Hopefully 2.010 will be better.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

As a teacher, I believe...no, I know that our work is beautiful! as Martiarenap said, we don�t just teach a language but also a way to see life. If someone is unhappy teaching, children know; if you love and work hard to do your best, they also know and they appreciate it.

 

So, about the first question.. Is  serious people  destinated to unhappiness? From my point of view, hapiness is a matter of choice. Circumstances don�t make one unhappy, is the attitude you take what makes you happy or not.