The Joy of Teaching: Inspiration for Educators
Teaching is a noble profession, and while many of our nation’s educators encounter professional challenges in a job that they love, what are some useful strategies for them to implement to sustain joy throughout the academic year?
In an engaging webinar hosted by WGU’s School of Education and Education Week, Dr. Mamie Pack, WGU’s manager of Healthy Learning, and Milton Collins, principal of Lincoln Elementary School in Salt Lake City, explored the deeper meaning of joy in teaching and how educators can foster it in themselves.
“Joy is a state of being that is not influenced by an event,” said Pack. “Even if you’re in the hard spaces of life, you’re still able to have joy in the midst of the mess.” She encouraged educators to differentiate between joy and happiness, emphasizing that while happiness may be event-driven, joy is tied to one’s values and mindset.
Collins, a principal with over two decades of school leadership experience, reinforced this message by encouraging educators to continually revisit their “why.” “Every year, I ask [my staff] to go back to that why,” said Collins. “Why are you here? Because you’re going to need to go to that often. But if you just keep going back to your why, it’ll help get you through all the difficult times.”
Both Pack and Collins underscored the importance of self-care in maintaining joy. Collins shared how he embedded self-care into his staff’s professional goals. “I need a self-care goal in there,” he said. “Your self-care could mean something as simple as, at 3:35 p.m., when your contract time ends, you’re walking out that door and going home to your families.”
Pack added, “Just like teachers plan out their lesson plans, where’s your well-being in the plan for the day?”
A recurring theme was the role of leadership and environment in cultivating joy. Collins detailed his morning routine of personally greeting each teacher. “By 8:20 a.m., I leave my office and go to every teacher’s classroom just to greet them,” he said. “This in itself brings some joy to folks.”
The webinar concluded with a call to action: teachers need to create joyful spaces that reflect their individual personalities. Whether it’s posting one’s “why” in the classroom, or facing the sun while at a desk, Pack reminded educators, “If you don’t enjoy being in your classroom, your students won’t either.”
Take a moment to watch the entire Joy of Teaching webinar here:
