The Only Chance

In One at a time, over and over from Seth Godin's Blog, Seth Godin talks about a visit to a restaurant that was disappointing. 

He shares,
"All shift long, there’s a lot to do. Another plate to fire, another customer to serve, another plate to clean. And yet this customer doesn’t care about all of that. For any given diner, this may very well be the only time he or she will ever eat here. For any given diner, this dish, this interaction–that’s the only chance you’re going to get.” 

I feel the same way in about teaching my students. This may be the only chance I have to make a difference in my students’ lives. The student doesn’t care about all the other students I have to teach. The student’s parents don’t care about all the others I have to teach either. They just care about their child. 

No one cares about all the paperwork and the heavy-duty stuff I need to do outside of the actual teaching. They don’t care about the planning that goes into the lesson or the materials that I have to find.
They care about the outcome or the results. 

The student wants to know:

• Why am I learning this right now?
• If it possible for me to learn this without looking like a failure?
• Will this be interesting to me?
• Will I actually use this in the future? 

Parents and administrators want to know:

• Will they learn some new skill?
• Is this skill relevant to today’s world?
• Will they be able to apply this skill to real life?

I need to make sure that I use this opportunity to make a difference. It is important to focus on each and every student as if they are my only priority. I need to make them feel like they are the most important thing on my mind right now. I’m not worried about planning for my next lesson or the paperwork the administrator wants by the end of the day or all the papers that I need to grade. I need to be present in the lesson that I’m teaching right now. I need to make sure each student understands what I am teaching them and is able to process this information in order to apply it when they need it. 

This may be the only chance I get. 

Photo by Zachary Keimig on Unsplash