Staying Focused and Focusing on the Positive

Staying positive in the midst of an extremely busy schedule, can be challenging. The list of things to do never seems to end. Balancing the work load with things that bring great joy outside of work becomes difficult. Learning to stay focused, and focusing on the positive is what gets us through.

During the past week, my schedule became overwhelming. In addition to everything I have going on, I was observed by one of the senior instructors at the AEI. The process of being observed always effects me. I have confidence in my teaching, but when someone is there to judge me, it is difficult not to place stress on myself, not to expect perfection.

The lesson that I planned for the day I got observed was a bit ambitious, and I knew this going into it. I also knew that the vocabulary activity that I had my students doing was potentially going to be too difficult for them. I went in knowing all of this, but still feeling positive about the lesson.

My predictions were right. The lesson was going beautifully for the first 20 minutes; we first reviewed the topic as a class then my students worked in groups of three discussing questions related to the topic in preparation for a mini-lecture that they were going to listen to. I decided to have the students listen before I went over the vocabulary; after they listened one time, they would work in their small groups to try to discover the meanings of the words together.

Well, the listening was challenging, as was the vocabulary, so my confident students, who had been so engaged during their discussions, quickly became overtaken with looks of anxiety. As oppose to modifying the lesson at that point, I felt like I had to stick to the lesson plan that I had given my observer. My students and I worked through the vocabulary activity together and they listened to the mini-lecture two more times, taking notes on specific information. The lesson wasn't a disaster, but I also didn't conduct it as I would have, if there hadn't been an observer in the room.

After the lesson, I reanalyzed everything that I had done in the lesson a million times, obsessing over it. The following morning I filled out my post observation form and was as candid as possible. I knew that was my opportunity to shed light on the lesson from my perspective and from my perspective it was a positive lesson. Even though there were things that I could have done differently, it was also very obvious the positive rapport that I have with my students and their trust in me as a teacher.

During the follow-up meeting with the observer, I was praised for my insightful and honest post observation write up. The observer and I had a productive meeting, where we discussed the aspects of the lesson that I would have done differently, as well as factors in the lesson that may not have been apparent to an outsider. It was an extremely positive meeting and reminded me of the importance of staying positive. Even when it feels like there isn't anything positive to focus on, if we are patient, the positive aspect of most any situation will become apparent.

Outside of the observation, many other things were happening. There were technology enhanced lesson plans, blogs, discussions, and project steps to grade, Skype calls to make, lessons to plan, lessons to teach, an online discussion to moderate, and meetings to attend and conduct. In the midst of it all, I stayed focused, but more importantly I stayed positive. I knew that if I let my attitude become negative, all the things that I had to do were going to become even more challenging. I pushed through all my tasks and duties knowing that I would complete them, knowing that I would succeed in them, knowing that if I stayed positive, it would make it all a whole lot easier.

I think my positive attitude has paid off. This week I was invited to be the key speaker at the national TESOL conference in Ukraine in April. I am incredibly honored to have this invitation extended to me. The likelihood that I will get funded for the conference is strong. I will stay positive that funding will come through and that I will be flying across the globe in a few short months. I will believe that no matter what the outcome, it will be for the best and lead me to exactly where I need to be.

We are in control of our attitudes. It is our choice to be positive or negative, to have a good day or a bad day, to be happy or sad. I choose happy. I choose positive. They seem like the best choices to me!

Turn your face to the sun, and the shadows will fall behind you ~ Maori Proverb