I saw a large number of excited tweets about the Reform Symposium 2011 . A whole convention online!
The lecture dealing with teacher burnout caught my eye and I decided to attend this one lecture. Now there’s a paradox right there! The lecture, my time , was on SATURDAY, my only day off. If I’m feeling so stressed and overburdened that I’m attracted to a lecture on “burnout”, (we’re just before report cards and mid-year matricualtion exams and I work 6 days a week!), then WHY ATTEND A LECTURE ON SATURDAY?!!
But the speaker, John Spencer was good. He didn’t just say – go to gym class and you’ll be fine! I didn’t take notes but I went to his blog after the lecture and found my PARADOX right there! Here’s an excerpt of what he wrote about himself, on his contact page:
“I believe that true impact occurs in a paradox. The more I try to “make an impact,” the less I impact a student.”
I have 4 months of real teaching yet to go this year. In addition, as a counselor I have two more matricualtion exams to deal with. Maybe I need to stop trying so hard. Easier said than done…
I’m glad I attended the lecture!