The focus here has always been on good teaching. However, the protection of our mental health and our own personal happiness (so related to our jobs!) are of the greatest importance.
Sometimes I teach old-style grammar. Some get it and some don’t. I don’t care. I am not always in the mood to do a story and that’s ok. In fact, most people seem to think that when they are doing grammar worksheets they are learning. Bless their hearts.
It’s not about how much CI we do. We shouldn’t put that pressure on ourselves. I’ve addressed this point (about the 10,000 hours) in previous posts in this thread. It’s not even about best practices. It’s about getting through the day.
That’s all – just getting through the day. We often forget what emotional hell holes we are in. We often literally forget or lose touch with who we are in such settings, and we become unhappy wraith-like shadows of our best selves. Schools routinely do that to teachers who, because they often can’t go on, are replaced and the quality of the replacement seems to not be of much concern to anyone.
It’s a system of indoctrination, not education. We and our students become worker rats who live in fear of being deprived of our food if we screw things up even once in the eyes of some uneducated (often white) male in the building somewhere who always comes into our classrooms at the wrong time.
That’s not any way to live. Let’s turn our attention now in 2022 to changing our relationship with our jobs. Let’s not become wraiths.