Teacher Hobbies (?)

I had a conversation with a teacher recently who just came in my classroom and openly said, unprompted, “I think I am losing my passion.” It seemed rather abrupt, and a little alarming as this person has been teaching for less than five years, not even close to the teacher career hump yet. This conversation loop always seems surprising at the beginning but persisted with us contending with the idea of how to separate your teacher self from your personal self.

This led to a discussion on how we have altered our relationship with teaching as to help it not solely consume our whole identities and be the lead driver for whether or not we feel fulfilment.

In considering the things we do outside of the classroom, this teacher then hilariously said “what are my hobbies?” We both laughed as we mutually realized we did not really have any.

Is writing a newsletter for your closest friends/colleagues (hopefully not too against their will) a hobby?

Being my weird, imposter-battling self, my hobbies always tend to trickle into things that even if I say it is not for making me a better teacher, or attempting to be, it is associated with trying to improve at something in some way, not just doing something for the sake of enjoying it. By no means does that intend to be a flex, rather, any time spent not teaching or working around teaching can make educators feel they need to be doing something else productive if not actively thinking or working on their assignment.

Things like running, weight lifting, reading, and listening to podcasts has typically been my preferred uses of ‘free’ time. As the amalgamation of these is technically dedicated to providing a more holistic, healthy version of myself for my students, is that workaholism or just being an adult?

I remember going into my first summer break and picking up the book Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder and I had been excited to read it for some time. As the summer went on, I spent hours a day on this book, underlining, re-reading, contemplating its ideas, and I realized I was actually moderately stressed the entire time not because of the material, but because I felt I needed to remember everything for when I got to teaching the content from it for my students. Some slightly strange behaviour for a “break.” At this point, the main thing I can remember is the Final Solution Hitler originally planned against the Jews was to relocate them to Madagascar. The more you know.

It is very easy to lose sight of things which bring you excitement or a zest for life outside of the classroom. The first few years of teaching unwittingly ingrains a routine of busyness as there are so many tiny nuances one must learn to incrementally enhance their presence in the classroom. I routinely joke (with mixed reactions) that I do not remember what I used to think about before I was a teacher. What did 18 year-old, non-educator Lucas used to think about? Perhaps it is for the best I do not remember.

Find your hobbies, friends. And if you plan on picking up golf as a hobby, don’t.

This Week on the Pod:

Megan DuVarney Forbes - Megan (@toocoolformiddleschool) is a Social Studies Teacher based out of California and has been in the profession for more than a decade. On this episode, Megan and I discuss the purpose of Social Studies, the variety of individuals you encounter when teaching junior high, knowing a little about a lot, tricking your students into learning by accident, the story of the “Caribbean Martin Luther King” Rothschild Francis, and, much more.

Next Week on the Pod:

Sam Salem - Sam (@samsleeves) is a Substitute Teacher by day and Stand-Up Comedian by night, and is based out of Los Angeles, California. He is also a Co-Host of the CallBacksPod with Danny Sellers. On this episode, Same and I discuss how covid drew him to stand-up, the insane things students say to him as a sub, his experience coaching college basketball, how it is weird being in charge of people’s kids, negativity bias in teaching, and, much more.

Link for picture: https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/hobbies-turn-into-good-side-job/