Are You Passionate About What You Are Doing?

This morning, I woke up thinking about this. So many of us get stuck in occupations that we really don't enjoy, but we remain in them because they pays the bills. Is this really how life is supposed to be? Are we really living or are we just going with the flow?

When I reflect back over my life, more than a decade ago, I was in school pursuing a degree in psychology. During that time, I was on a quest to become a child psychologist. I knew that I loved children and I liked helping them. (I guess I figured child psychology would be a happy medium.) Even though my heart longed to teach, I did want to accept it.  I felt like teachers did not make enough money and I wanted a career doing what I liked, but I still wanted to make quite a bit of money at the same time. (You got to love how young, young minds think.)  I contemplated making teaching a secondary career, but I knew I would not consider it as my only career.


It's funny how we try to mask what we're really feeling and pretend that we are okay when we really aren't. I should have known that I was in pursuit of the wrong career because I would often volunteer to chaperone for trips at my sister's and nephew's school.  In retrospect, I see that it was because I loved being in the school environment.  I can think of times that the smell of the halls and/or classrooms made me just want to remain there. I had it really bad for teaching!!

When did I come to my senses? I was about to graduate from U.S.C. with a bachelor's degree in psychology when I awoke from my deep slumber. I marched up to the front of the massive room and went through the motions of the ceremony, but I later found out that I did not really graduate. I did not pass two courses in psychology. I would have to retake these courses before I could get my degree. It was then that I realized that I did not want to retake those courses because I really wanted to teach. I changed my major to English and my minor to elementary education.


Yes, I wasted a lot of money, but I still feel like my psychology classes helped me to be a better teacher.
It's funny because once I changed my major, I was more successful in my classes and I was more excited about my learning. After graduating with a bachelor's degree, I later went to get an M.A.T. in elementary education. I maintained a 4.0 G.P.A throughout the duration of my master's program. It was hard work, but I found it to be more enjoyable. Could it be that I was more passionate about what I was doing? What is being passionate anyway? According to dictionary.com, passionate is being ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling. I firmly believe that this is what everyone should have in their career. This is what I had and still have for teaching!

You can go through life simply living (surviving) or you can go through life flourishing because you are doing what you were meant to do - what you truly LOVE!

Are you satisfied with just surviving…..(see above)

I don't teach because I get paid summers off or because I don't work on the weekends. Yes, these are perks that I enjoy about my job. However, I teach because I actually enjoy what I do. I LOVE IT! I am PASSIONATE about it! If you are teaching only for the perks, then you really don't need to be teaching.


It doesn't matter if you are in the teaching profession or if you are pursuing something else. You must be passionate about what you are doing!! Otherwise, you will never be really satisfied and you will find yourself unhappy. Ultimately, it is your decision.  You can remain in an occupation that you don't like or step into your zone of passion. The choice is really yours!

…..or would you like to flourish? (see above)

Helpful Ideas for Hall Displays

If you are anything like me, you DREAD doing hall displays! I don't know why I dislike them so much. Maybe it's because I feel like they have to be almost PERFECT since they are displayed for other eyes to see. It can be soooooo frustrating when you are about to put up a display and you realize that the work is not up to par. You know that parents love to slow down to read what their child has done…..so does the principal and many others. You feel like your display can be critiqued by anyone - expert or not .  Even though the majority of the time you are displaying kid's work, you can still feel like you (the teacher) are on the chopping board. If things are misspelled or sloppy, it is the teacher that will mostly likely get blamed.

Our art teacher does an amazing job with hall displays!

Are hall displays really that bad? No, not really. Hall displays don't have to be as hard as we make them out to be. Almost every time I get one done, I realize that it really wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. I guess it is just the BATTLE of getting started. 

There are several ways to make a hall display or should I say, several ways to take up that enormous space that is on the other side of your door. If you are like me, time is of the essence! If you don't like to take down the paper, a creative way to keep your displays fresh is to put up clothes pins with the names of each of your students.  You can periodically switch out your students' work, which is less time consuming. 

See how simple and easy it can be! Kindergarten teachers are so creative!

You can also step outside of the traditional rectangular cork board. Sometimes, putting work out in a random fashion can be so UNIQUE and ATTRACTIVE.

My colleague, Kelly did an exceptional job displaying what the students learned about cause and effect using sentence strips and artwork. 

You can even display something that can last the entire year. I AM NOT KIDDING!! Can you believe that??!!! If you have a gifted art teacher like we do, a simple phrase on a bulletin board can be encouraging to both staff and students. At the beginning of this school year, my friend Tonya had an idea for each fourth grade teacher to take pictures of all of their students, so that we could display them as a border on a bulletin board. Yes, the kids' pictures were the border! She asked our art teacher to paint the words, "Where there is unity, there is victory" in the center of the pictures.  Additionally, I added pictures of the fourth grade teachers. We have had this display up since the beginning of the year and we plan to keep it up until the end. (I did not post a picture of this display because of the students' pictures on it.) Below is an example of another bulletin board that our art teacher designed.

It seems so simple, but it makes such a grand statement!

You can also solicit the support of your students to create posters that can be displayed in the halls year round. Bullying is such a major issue in all schools. It is great to let students create anti-bullying posters to display around the school.  Additionally, students can remind other students not to do drugs. Here are a few examples…

There are so many ways that we can tackle hall displays. We really don't have any excuses! I still can't say that I love doing them, but at least I can know that I have several options. If you have any great ideas for hall displays, please feel free to share them.

I love the peace symbol! It is so crafty!! Also, notice the clothes pin idea. I don't think she put the students' names on hers.

This is another angle of the same display. Unfortunately, I could not get the peace symbol in this one.