Q: I’m in my ninth year as an eighth-grade teacher, and I hope to spend the rest of my career in education. So, it’s disheartening that I’ve lost the desire to innovate. I still care deeply about my students, but I’m no longer motivated to step on the gas. I know that no one is 100% productive all the time, but I really dislike feeling disengaged and joyless, and it’s messing with my self-image. I have always thought of myself as someone who keeps her lessons fresh, not as someone who reuses lessons that were only “meh” the first time around. But now I’m doing everything on a “need-to-do” basis.
To be clear, my department chair and principal say they’re satisfied with my work, but I’m sure they’re noticing that I don’t stay as late or seem as jazzed. My principal used to give me more unsolicited positive feedback, and I’m missing that more than I want to admit. I get that I don’t deserve to be showered with praise, but it’s a real change for me, and (earned) praise fuels me. I know I can attribute my loss of motivation at least in part to a combination of pandemic fatigue and the overwhelm that comes with covering for colleagues, being surrounded by shell-shocked and stressed colleagues, and trying to teach equally shell-shocked and stressed students without much planning time (let alone copy paper, but that’s a different question for another time). Regardless of the reasons, I want to aim for more than “serviceable.” I want to feel proud of my work! Is there some magical formula that will restore the joy I used to derive from teaching?
A: Every individual is different, but when it comes to motivation, researchers have identified some common themes. I recently spoke to Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School (and co-author of The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work), whose research focuses on fostering a positive inner work life. She asked 238 employees doing creative work in seven companies to record their daily emotions, perceptions of their organization and leaders, and their motivation for the work, and to write a description of one event that stood out during the day that was relevant to their work. She then followed the employees for several months.
“We made three big discoveries,” Amabile told me. “One of them is that inner work life drives performance. On the days when people were feeling the most positive emotions — the most positive perception of their teammates and leaders, their work, their organizations, and themselves — that’s when they were most likely to do creative and productive work.” The second big discovery is that progress drives inner work life. It’s a feedback loop, she said. “People have a better inner work life when they make progress, even if that progress looks pretty trivial to someone on the outside.” Conversely, people reported that their worst inner work life events had to do with feeling stalled or stuck because they didn’t have access to resources or the help they needed, or they felt like they were on the wrong track. Amabile’s third big discovery was that certain things seemed to spark progress: clear and meaningful goals, autonomy, sufficient resources, and nourishers (or “the emotional nourishment kids and adults need when they’re trying to accomplish something”). The nourishers are respect and recognition, encouragement, emotional support, and camaraderie, or “feeling like you are part of a great team that cares about and helps one another,” she explained.
What does that mean for you as a teacher? Amabile’s research suggests that in order to take joy in teaching again, you need to see the meaning in your work and have access to the help and tools you need to make incremental progress. You also need to feel like your efforts are recognized and appreciated. Easier said than done, I know. You clearly can’t erase the pandemic or its impacts (or control your district’s distribution of copy paper, for that matter), but you can take small steps. Try changing one classroom strategy or implementing one new activity at a time rather than constantly feeling reactive, like you’re checking off a list of must-do’s. If you act “as if” and mix things up, you also might feel a greater sense of autonomy. And if you end up making progress as a result of these efforts, that could lead to more authentic motivation. Be transparent with your administrators about your need for praise. Let them know you thrive on positive feedback, and recognize your colleagues’ good work, too. If you give others the feedback you crave (and offer them tangible help when possible) you’ll kick off a positive cycle and build camaraderie — another one of those nourishing catalysts. Along the way, look for meaning in your work by talking to students about what’s helping them right now and what they need from you, and observe other teachers doing cool stuff that might inspire you. You also could try keeping a journal to build momentum. Track your setbacks and successes, and make note of any progress, no matter how minor. If you see that you feel less bleak than you did a month ago, for instance — or you recognize that you’ve been able to connect more effectively with a reluctant student — you might begin to feel more energized and joyful overall.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Phyllis L. Fagell
Phyllis L. Fagell is the school counselor at Landon School in Washington, D.C., a therapist at the Chrysalis Group in Bethesda, Md., and the author of the Career Confidential blog. She is also the author of Middle School Matters and Middle School Superpowers, available at https://amzn.to/3Pw0pcu.
