Avoid the 'Meh'

From 'Meh' to Marvel: Reigniting THE Passion for Teaching

Don’t you love getting a new car? It’s so fun to figure out the bells and whistles. It smells so good and it’s so clean! And then, after a couple of years, there are French fries between the seats and a weird rattle under the dash and you just don’t get the same thrill when you get in it each morning. It’s just ‘meh.’ Have you ever felt just ‘meh’ about your job? You know, like it’s not bad, but it’s not thrilling either? If you have been doing the same job or teaching the same subject or grade for a while, I think this is normal.

I remember when I was 21 years old and a first year teacher, just writing on the chalkboard, you heard me – a chalkboard, was so stinking exciting! Even 20 years later when I became the director of a preschool, I got a thrill using my keys to open up the building in the mornings. But then, as life goes, if you keep at the same thing long enough, what once was exciting becomes routine, mundane, and boring. The scary thing about ‘boring’ though, is how quickly it can slide into misery.

Early in my career I realized I had a knack for getting bored quickly. I loved seeking out new challenges. I often changed grades, or schools, or districts. I was the first to sign up for a new grant-funded special project. I never minded the extra time or effort it would take to learn and adapt to the new thing. Expanding my experience and skill set was it’s own reward. It was like getting a new car every couple of years!

Then I found the job, the school, the people that I never wanted to leave. It was way outside the zone of anything I had done before and challenging in completely different ways. Teaching 3 year olds was full of new joys and challenges every day. I did, however, eventually get pretty confident and sometimes I could almost feel the ‘meh’ feeling creeping in. Thankfully, I had a director who knew the antidote – learning. In our program teachers were encouraged to learn and try new things and be creative. We had autonomy to take risks. I tried a lot of things over the years that were big failures, but I also had wonderful moments of success!

As a director, I can judge the ‘meh’ level of my teachers by how often they say things to me like, “Would it be crazy if I tried teaching the kids about electrical currents?” or “What do you think about cool glue guns?” or “I had this crazy idea for a unit on grocery stores.” These teachers don’t feel ‘meh.’ And it shows. Their classrooms feel fun and exciting, like driving a new car. These teachers are excited, enjoying their work, and creating amazing learning experiences for children. It really makes ‘work’ such a fun place to be!



So, as we move towards the end of the school year and you start feeling like your spark is not so bright, spend a few extra minutes preparing something you have never done before. Try something new. You will either get some joy and excitement or a failure that will make a funny story later (ask me about dryer lint guinea pigs some day 😉).