We in the educational community are pretty lucky. Teaching is widely regarded as one of the professions that has great purpose. In fact, over the course of my research to write this book, I spoke with many teachers who changed careers to become teachers, and they all cited their search for a profession with deeper meaning as what brought them to teaching. Consider the story of Bill Knittle, an elementary school teacher in Chester, Massachusetts.

Bill began working with newspapers in high school and college, first doing some writing and then working in advertising. He continued in journalism after college, landing a job at the Hampton Gazette (MA) before entering senior year. He worked in several newspapers over many years while getting married and raising his son. "I really enjoyed the work," he explained to me over lunch one day. His final position in this field was working as a general manager of a newspaper. He especially enjoyed this role because he got to work with editorials, which allowed him to help influence people.

Though Bill enjoyed working for newspapers, he had always wanted to be a teacher. Watching his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Finton, he thought, "Wouldn't this be great? What a terrific job!" Every now and then, throughout his childhood and adulthood, thoughts of teaching would resurface. After his son graduated, he made the decision to get his master's degree and teaching certification. His student teaching experience and his first teaching job were in Sheffield Elementary School, run by Chip Wood, nationally known guru on education and cofounder of the Northeast Foundation for Children and author of the Responsive Classroom. Ruth Charney, fellow cofounder and author of Teaching Children to Care (2002), observed Bill several times and gave him feedback that first year.

Bill reports that he feels more vibrant, challenged, and passionate for his work than he had in his previous career. But for many of us, it can be shockingly easy to lose sight of our sense of purpose when we are mired in the daily minutiae of teaching. We begin the school year full of hopes, with our passion for teaching high. We cannot wait for students to arrive so we can get going on exciting projects and try out some new lessons and units we have been working on. Even the prospect of challenging students is exciting as we think about how rewarding it will be to make positive connections with them and get them excited about learning. Then we have that first union meeting where the union head is insulting the administration. That afternoon, we are reminded that we have six IEP files to review, and meetings will follow the next week. On the third day of school, we get a new student who does not speak English and requires a lot of extra support, and this happens to be the same day we get a phone call from a parent wondering why more challenging homework has not started coming home yet. Within a few weeks, it's easy to already feel disheartened and overwhelmed.

One of the most challenging aspects of being a teacher is that we must be able to see the forest and the trees at the same time. Hopeless visionaries who cannot manage the daily details of teaching do not last too long, but if we become unimaginative micromanagers, consumed by the daily challenges of school (e.g., meetings, little misbehaviors, collegial conflicts, standardized testing pressures, etc.), we quickly lose sight of the greater goals and aspirations that fuel our fire and drive us to be great teachers.

Let's examine some aspects of our career that relate to our sense of significance and explore them in depth. As in the other chapters of this book, we will try to minimize aspects that present challenges while being proactive and purposeful about how to hold on to a healthy sense of significance.

Noticing the "Little" Things

A high school history teacher greets students at the door as they enter class, and Jimmy, a normally quiet and reserved sophomore, sidles over to share a picture of his new puppy. A middle school math teacher is greeted with an enthusiastic smile and a wave from an energetic former student, even though she is traveling with a pack of friends. Nicky, a normally challenging 1st grader who often shoves and swears, quietly puts his hand into the hand of his teacher on the way out to recess.

Our hard work is recognized in a variety of other small ways throughout the year. Parents may write a nice note, thanking us for taking some extra time with their child. A colleague might tell us that he appreciated a comment that we made at a staff meeting. An administrator may send us a quick e-mail noticing something that our students have done well. These are actually not "little" things at all but important ways that people are showing us that our work matters and that we are significant. Instead of letting these seemingly small events roll off our backs, let's make sure to soak them up and cherish them. Here are a few specific ideas.

Collect Artifacts

I have a binder full of notes from parents and students thanking me or telling me that I made a difference. It used to be organized, but now it is a bit jumbled. That's okay. Just knowing it is there is comforting, and after a rough call from a parent who was upset (and leading me to feel less significant), I could open up the binder and remind myself that I was not a completely lost cause! If a binder is not your style, you could collect a digital scrapbook. Scan or take pictures of things that will remind you of your many successes. Even an old folder in the back of a file drawer could serve as an artifact repository. Here are just a few ideas of the kinds of artifacts we might collect:

• Notes from parents and students
• Newspaper articles highlighting your class or school
• Pictures of students you connected with
• Notes from colleagues/administrators
• List of committee work
• Updated résumé

Accept Compliments with Thanks

We will delve more deeply into this idea in the next chapter on competence. For now, consider believing students, parents, and colleagues when they tell you that you are making a difference. A high school teacher told me, "Teenagers can be so fickle and narcissistic. It's hard to take them seriously when they tell you you're their favorite teacher." To that, I say, "Believe it!" Whether we are really a kid's favorite teacher does not really matter. When students say something like that, we should just thank them and feel good. We are making a connection, and that's important.

Keep a Journal

Take five minutes at the end of each day to jot down some positive moments of the school day. Record the secret smile you got from a student during a read-aloud. Make a note about the student who passed the history test for which he had been studying so hard. This journal not only will turn into a nice collection of small yet significant events but also will train you to notice and remember such moments.

Setting Yourself Up for Significant Work in Your School

Here it is again—the importance of being proactive. Sure, kids, parents, colleagues, and administrators may all let us know how we are making a difference in our daily work, and it's important for us to recognize these things when they happen. But we can also do several things to set ourselves up for regular doses of significance.

Join a Committee and Work Toward a Cause

This might seem like odd advice, given the way most of us feel about committee work. I'm sure we have all had committee experiences that are about as fun as an unmedicated root canal. However, if there is a committee in your school or district for which you could get excited, sign up! What are you passionate about? What interests you about the larger school community? Whether you join the Green Team that will work toward recycling and composting or the negotiations team for your district's union, or co-chairing the PTO, there's nothing like fighting for something you believe in to boost your sense of significance.

Mentor or Coach a New Teacher

The opportunity to help a new colleague is exciting. If you are a veteran member of your school, you have a lot of knowledge and skills to share, both as a teacher and as someone who knows the ropes of your school. You'll find that the time and energy you spend will be more than paid back as you renew your own sense of purpose and focus on the bigger picture at school. If your school does not have an official mentoring program, you can still take a new staff member under your wing. Simply let her know she can come to you with any question. Remind him about the upcoming staff meeting or treat him to an occasional lunch.

Take On an Intern or Student Teacher

Having a prospective teacher working in your classroom can be a very rewarding experience. In addition to learning a lot yourself and making good connections with local colleges and universities, having an intern is a great way to contribute to the development of another professional. Sharing and teaching some of the good strategies we have developed helps boost our sense of significance. Having to explain what we do forces us to articulate our belief system and can help us further refine our own practice.

Become a Team Leader

Whether this form of leadership is an official role as the head of a high school department or an unofficial role as the go-to person on your 3rd grade team, being a leader and taking on some extra responsibility can be a great source of significance.

Be an Active Participant

Always sitting by and not asking a question or voicing an opinion at a staff meeting can lead you (and others) to believe that you do not have anything valuable to offer. You do! Share it.

Teach an After-School Activity

Do you enjoy knitting, scrapbooking, woodworking, or another hobby? If so, turn that hobby into an after-school class for either staff or students (or both). It is extremely satisfying to share our passions with others.

Offer a Workshop for Parents

Do you have some strategies that families could use to help with homework? Are parents in your school confused by new math or spelling instruction? These topics would be great miniworkshops to offer to any parent in the building.

Make Sure Not to Sell Yourself Short

Although doing more significant work in our schools can help boost our sense of significance in general, we need to be careful that we do not take on too many responsibilities without fair compensation. If we do, we may end up feeling unappreciated and undervalued, which could in fact diminish our sense of significance. For example, becoming part of a committee or helping facilitate a learning community in your school might be a great way to help shape the direction of your school community. Coaching a debate team, running an after-school reading program, or attending a professional workshop in the summer should all come along with compensation. Too often, out of a sense of responsibility, teachers give away too much time or spend their own money on things their schools should supply. We are setting ourselves up when we do this. Administrators and school boards may assume that these things do not require a line in the budget, knowing that teachers are willing to donate their time and resources. Before long, teachers are feeling like their time and efforts are not respected as they are asked to work too many hours with too few resources and without just compensation or funding.

Working Within the Broader Educational Community

In the previous chapter, I suggested that subscribing to a publication, joining an online community, and attending a conference are good ways to gain a greater sense of belonging to the educational community outside your own school. These same venues offer great opportunities to gain a greater sense of significance as well. Consider the following ideas:

• Write a journal article. I will never forget the thrill of having a research paper published. Greater yet was the day I got a response from a reader letting me know that the article had had an impact on her teaching.
• Write for a blog or create your own. I talked with one teacher who had started her own blog as a way of processing some of the things she was doing in her classroom. She was surprised to find that after a while, she had a small group of people reading her blog and responding. She knew she was making a difference with teachers in other schools.
• Teach a workshop. What is something that you are doing well that you could share? Perhaps you and a small team of colleagues could present some of your work at a local or national conference. It can be gratifying to know that when we share our successes with others, we are helping students in other places have a more successful school career.

Recognizing the Importance of Creativity and Teacher Voice

The past decade has seen an alarming trend in education. In an attempt to meet the demands of NCLB and the general move toward the standardization of curricula, many districts have adopted stale, cookie-cutter curricula. With lessons carefully scripted (and sometimes referred to as "teacher-proof"), these curricula are sapping teachers of creativity and voice.

I remember being handed a math program a few years back. Until that point, I had created my own math units and lessons to best fit the needs of my students while still delivering the content required by my district. It was exhausting putting together my own units and crafting my own lessons (which naturally changed each year based on the needs and strengths of my students), so I was intrigued by the thought of a curriculum where everything was mapped out. Just think of the time I'd save! And the homework was already there, prepackaged and ready to go!

I will admit that I did enjoy the decrease in planning time and the comfort of knowing that the math lessons, activities, and homework were already prepared each day. Interestingly enough, though, my enjoyment of teaching math waned the longer I used the program. The lessons did not always fit my students, and I was often confused by unfamiliar activities. Because I was not spending so much time creating units and lessons, I spent less time thinking about how (and why) to teach various aspects of math. Because the program spelled out exactly what I should do and how I should do it, I found my own interest in math dropping. I had lost my teacher voice in math. Not surprisingly, as my own sense of meaning and significance as a teacher decreased, my students felt disconnected from and uninterested in math as well.

In his essay "Stress, Control, and the Deprofessionalizing of Teaching," Tom Newkirk (2009) points out that studies have shown that workers who have less control of their work have higher rates of stress-related illnesses (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease). He argues that one of the reasons teachers are feeling so much more stress in today's educational climate is that power and control are being stripped away from them via scripted curricula. An online comment that followed this article speaks to the truth of Newkirk's assessment: "This is exactly why I left the school I was in. The principal was buying Voyager for every subject and it is scripted and feels like Teaching for Dummies. I have a Masters Degree in Reading and over 20 yrs. of experience in teaching and it was so boring and insulting. I felt like I had no control over what was done in my classroom and no time to do what I knew was good for kids" (entry posted October 19, 2009).

Find Ways to Assert Your Voice and Get Creative

So, what do we do if we are handed a scripted program or curriculum? Resist! Fight back! Adjust and modify! Take that scripted math program and identify the good stuff tucked in there; then use that good stuff to enhance your own teaching. Take the science textbook—that dry, deadly, eight-pound monster—and use it as a resource and reference tool as you craft engaging and compelling units for your students. Take that stale essay writing unit and spruce it up. Make it fun. Change it around.

I know, I know. I can see some of you cringing at the very thought. "But my principal says that we're all supposed to be on the same page of the math program at the same time. She actually sends out reminders about the page we should be on!" I have heard this same sort of refrain from teachers all over the country. I like to counter with a question: have you ever heard of a teacher who was fired because she took a stale and dry curricular unit and made it better? It has probably happened somewhere, but I have yet to hear of an example. It seems to me that most principals have a hard enough time removing their bad teachers (the ones who sip coffee all day while handing out worksheets or the ones who beat the buses out of the parking lot every day). Why would they try to rid themselves of their good ones? I once heard a colleague at ASCD say, "It seems to me that the best teachers are the ones who are quietly rebellious." I think she is right on. It's okay for us to stand up for (and deliver) good teaching practices where we are putting the needs of our students above the needs of our curriculum.

Articulate an Ideal Vision

I was watching Ruth Charney, cofounder of Northeast Foundation for Children, teach an advanced workshop recently on the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching, and she challenged participants to think deeply about what they believed and what they wanted to create in their classrooms.

Now, I'd like to challenge you to do the same. Think about an aspect of your teaching. If you teach many subjects, choose one. It does not have to be a subject, though; it could be an element of teaching, such as direct instruction, conferring, or small-group work. Once you have chosen something on which to focus, write down exactly what this activity or quality would look like in action when done to perfection. What are you doing, and why are you doing it? What are students doing, and what is their motivation? Here are a couple of examples of what a vision statement like this might look like:

Articulating a clear vision can give you great energy. It forces you to set a goal that comes from your beliefs about what an ideal classroom should be. Instead of focusing on the content we must cover (generally not a great source of significance), we focus on what we should do and why it is important (a great source of significance).

Craft a Philosophical Statement

According to Patricia Houghton (2001), teachers who are allowed to teach according to their own beliefs are happier. What do you believe about teaching and learning? To help yourself focus on the bigger picture, try crafting a philosophical statement. More broad and general than a vision for an ideal moment, a philosophical statement is an overarching description of your professional belief system. Too often in teaching, we get caught up in what we teach and how we teach it. Every now and then, we need to dig deeper and examine why we teach and why we do what we do.

When crafting a philosophical statement, consider the following questions as a starting point. You might focus on just one or attempt to address several in one statement:

• What are your core beliefs about how students learn?
• What is the ideal learning environment?
• Why did you choose to go into teaching?
• How does a good education improve society?
• What were some of your most important experiences as a student, and how have they shaped who you are as a teacher?

Put Together a Professional Portfolio

Creating and maintaining a professional portfolio is another way we can focus on ways we are significant at school. Often we are making a real impact, but we fail to notice all of the important ways we contribute to our schools. Creating a professional portfolio encourages us to collect and celebrate things that we have done that have made an impact. A portfolio could be a three-ring binder with written statements and artifacts from our teaching, or it could be an online presentation that links to photo galleries and videos. Whatever format you use, consider some of the following ideas:

• Include belief and vision statements.
• Collect artifacts from your work with students, parents, colleagues, and others.
• Focus on work samples that show how you have affected others.
• Include notes and cards from students and their families.
• Brush up your résumé!

Recognize the Impact of Societal Perceptions on Our Sense of Significance

Both positive and negative perceptions of teachers and teaching are floating around out there. Politicians regularly pander to teachers in stump speeches, praising us for entering such a noble profession, but limited governmental funding for public education sends a different message about how society values what we do. The national debate about No Child Left Behind and the ensuing labeling of schools as "failing" have demoralized educators across the country. As I heard one teacher say, "For years, we wished that the federal government would step in and get more active in education. Now we wish they'd just go away." We all probably have some friends or family members who are both openly supportive and openly critical of teachers. Many teachers told me that they felt disheartened by bad press or other negative perceptions of our profession. Now, this book is focused on what we can do to better take care of ourselves, so it may seem odd to spend time discussing how people outside education view us, but let's face it: if our sense of significance as teachers is in part met (or not met) by how our profession is viewed, then it's up to us to see if we can improve that perception. Doing so will not only help us in the short term but also be good for our profession in the long term. So, let's examine a few ways that we can tackle some of these societal perceptions, especially in our own schools and districts.

Consider How We Present Ourselves to Parents and Community Members

According to a recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll (Bushaw & McNee, 2009), school employees were the second-most important source of information for people about their town's public schools. The way we present ourselves to the public can have a major impact on how our schools are viewed.

Imagine being a parent and walking into a school. You are trying to find a conference room where you have a team meeting scheduled to review your son's IEP. One of the two following scenes ensues. How will it affect your views about teachers and schools?

We can do so many little things to make a good impression on visitors to our schools. Friendly and open office staff, clean hallways, and tasteful landscaping can all make a difference. Here are some specific suggestions for helping people see your school as a professional and inviting place.

• Dress professionally. Consider business-casual dress. When we dress professionally, we send a message that we are professional. Matters of appearance may seem superficial to some (I argued that very thing at the beginning of my career), but consider how you would feel if you showed up at your doctor's office to see your doctor dressed as if he were about to do some yard work. How would his appearance affect your opinion of the quality of his work?
• Greet visitors and see how you can help. Saying hello is more than just a common courtesy. When people are greeted in a friendly way, they feel welcomed and are inclined to be positive about your school.
• Pay attention to your body language. One of the first things I notice about a school when I arrive is the body language of staff in the office and in the hallways. Good posture, friendly faces, and relaxed arms indicate a building where people feel comfortable, confident, and energized. Furrowed brows, crossed arms, hurried walking, slouching, and shuffling give the impression of people who feel fearful, tired, and stressed.

Be Proactive About Local Media Coverage

If school employees are the second-most important source of information for people about their town's public schools, what's the first? Local newspapers. Many teachers I spoke with voiced frustration at their local newspaper's negative coverage of the public schools in their town. One teacher in New Hampshire said that he felt that any hint of a drug issue or a fight at the high school seemed to earn front-page status at the local paper. Sadly, scandals probably sell more newspapers or attract more TV viewers than stories about fun projects or academic successes. That being said, I think schools usually do a pretty poor job of communicating good news to local media.

Be proactive! For example, set up a liaison with your local newspaper—a staff member who calls the paper once a week to feed information about exciting field trips, science fairs, and interesting classroom projects. In one school in which I worked, the school secretary would periodically put out a notice for staff members to feed her ideas for good stories to our local newspaper. As a result, we had more positive coverage in our newspaper (Bushaw & McNee, 2009).

Do Not Take Yourself Too Seriously

Of the major categories outlined in this book so far, significance may be the one most built into our profession. We are teachers because we want to make a difference. The work we do is important.

A danger here is that we can take ourselves too seriously. We can overdo our own sense of significance so that it becomes a hindrance to good health instead of an asset. Consider the following examples:

All three of these stories illustrate one of the dangers of our profession. Teachers don't just teach. We are teachers. Teaching is how we identify ourselves. In our society, which places a huge emphasis on what we do for a living to determine our value as people, we proudly say, "I am a teacher." This pride, this sense of significance about our work, is justified, but it can also allow us to take ourselves too seriously. So, for the Jerrys out there: Sure, our class may be out of control when we are not there, but we still need to take care of ourselves. We will be better teachers if we stay home with a fever or take an occasional mental health day to regain our strength and spirit. For all of the Mikes out there: Don't get so caught up in the idea that you are a good person because you are a good teacher. Loosen up a little and be open to new ideas. Good teachers are good learners. And for poor Sarah and all of us like her: It's not the amount of work that makes us a good teacher but the quality. Beware of playing the part of the martyr—martyrs must die, after all. Instead, create assignments that are still meaningful without requiring hours of work each night on your end. As explored in depth in the next chapter, we can be good without killing ourselves in the process.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we have looked at how to meet our needs for significance at school, but let's not forget to take care of those needs outside school, too. As described in Chapter 7 on balance, we need to work at satisfying all of our needs outside school so that when we hit a downturn at work, we have some reserves in other places. Work with a church youth group. Coach a soccer team. Spend time volunteering at a nursing home. Chip in at your local food bank. Spend time with your family and friends.

Maintaining meaningful connections outside work can help us keep our perspective healthy at school. After a rough staff meeting, a dispiriting day with students, or a challenging interaction with a parent, we can come home and remember that there is more to life than teaching. This sense of significance can allow us to disconnect from school, refocus on other ways in which we are important and make a difference, and give us the emotional recharging time that we need so that we can shake off the bad day at school and get in a positive frame of mind for the next.