Posted by Luke in 
This semester I have had the strange experience of teaching two groups of students. One group have participated, argued and thought well… the other? Well I would hate to say it have driven me insane. How can this be? Am I growing (more) cranky in my old age?
As I was thinking about this it dawned on me… motivation was the answer. In one course you have people who want to be there, have selected the course and want to know how stuff works. The others? Well, it’s a compulsory course mainly for accounting students. Ever since I can remember the course has been treated like a, “oh geez do I have to?” type of course. Yet, I have enjoyed teaching it all it’s various forms in the last few years… yet the student cohort never changes. No matter how much we change the content… they just (for the best part) don’t want to be there. So here we have apples and oranges. Not so bad.
Well it is so bad when each week you get people that don’t come, don’t bother reading the handouts and don’t really want to be there. Nothing dints your confidence more than when something you have sweat your arse off for is spat on by others. It reminds me of the hundreds of rejection letters I have and the papers I have had come back with a “reject” label. Anyway all of that is wiped away when someone actually appreciates your hard work. The nice letters, the happy students and people who say thank you, make up for all the hardship. These come with the bad and it makes it all worthwhile.
Let me encourage you that if are doing something that nobody appreciates; somebody does. Why don’t you encourage someone today who has been faithful in a thankless role for years? Find a way to encourage someone that you think has done a great job. You might just find like I have that these little things can make a big difference to someone who is having a bad day. Try it, you will make someone’s day.
Powered by MightyAdsense
