Emotional Climate

So while I was thinking about which of my many topics to discuss here I came across the newest post on George Couros's blog; The Principal of Change, and it struck a chord with me.

What George talks about in the post is a very really thing.  More and more in work places the employees are just that, a means to the end for the company and they are just numbers on a spreadsheet not real people with thoughts, ideas and emotions.  How is anyone expected to work to their best when the environment they work in is a hostile or desolate one?

This also works well in the school and classroom environment.  Teachers can't teach effectively if they are not feeling secure in every avenue of their person including emotionally.  Your students can key into your feelings and if your not at your best they can pick up on that so there needs to be a good environment within the school.  I experienced this first hand during my internship.  One of my daughters have an nonmalignant tumor above one of her kidneys.  It was discovered by accident and we spent a tortuous summer finding out what it was and what could be done ending in the results that it was not growing and not affecting her at all.  She still is monitored by her oncologist and the results are that it is not doing anything at all, which in 99% of the cases is what happens with this particular childhood cancer.  Well towards the end of my internship her oncologist phones because apparently on her last visit the results had changed and she needed to come in right away for more tests to see if this was the case for sure.  So the meat and potatoes is that I am committed to helping my school host the provincial volleyball tournament which starts the next day but now am taking her to the hospital to have tests run again.  After a talk with the principal she assured me that they were in complete understanding of what was going on.  I talked to the teacher that was in charge of the event and had it all cleared away; she even emailed me the next day and apologized if she sounded short with me (which she didn't at all).  It felt really good to know that they were all there for me, even calling me to see how it went afterwards, despite I was only a temporary part of their staff.  I can only hope that my next teaching position is in a school with a staff as amazing as that!

In the classroom students also need to have that feeling of community otherwise they cannot perform to their utmost potential.  As teachers we need to be in tune with our students even on the most basic emotional level.  If they had a bad night at home, or are having a bad day they will likely not be academically on the ball either.  Being able to see that and have a way to allow them to still work and feel successful will help pay off in the long run for the student, the class and anyone else involved!