Thankfully, plenty of my Twitter friends had some great advice to share. As I'm sure loss of inspiration, a certain amount of boredom and sometimes even unfulfillment is a common experience amongst those who work in education, I thought I'd pool together the advice for future reference.
"Reflect, stay neutral and get curious. All of this helps come back to your WHY." - Jaz Ampaw-Farr @jazampawfarr (see the video she recorded inspired by my tweet: The Importance of Why)
"Remember WHY. Why is more important than what. Then go and look at the faces in front of you. See them older and happy. That's why." - IWilson @linainiwos
Many find that inspiration comes from spending time with the children, and rightly so. As educators, the children are our 'why' so it stands to reason that in order to feel reinvigorated we should go to them:
"So much inspiration depends on the children. I think it must be harder to get mojo back if you're not in classroom. Take class and have fun!" - Janette de Voil @Janetteww
"Go back to the basics. Spend time with the kids. Do the things you like to do with them. Find the positives." - Mister Unwin @misterunwin
"Ignore adults for a while, have fun with the kids. Remember how enjoyable their company is, then teach them something (anything). Feels great!" - Kymberley @open_door_teach
"Sit and talk to the children. Not just fleetingly but proper talk. They will inspire you." - Suzanna C @sing0utsue
"Talk to children. Sit in the playground, watch, listen and then talk to them. Always inspires me to get on with it." - Simon Smith @smithsmm
"If I’m having a dodgy time I always go and soak up the good vibes from the playground!" - Rebecca Stacey @bekblayton
"Sit down and be in the moment with kids." - The Trainee Teacher @TrainingToTeach
"Spend a day in reception - but... take your 'teacher head' off and just inhale the joy and energy and play, play, play." - Maeve @MaeveBeg
"Being out of the class is tough so I go back into class; I also spend some time in Early Years! Watching and learning from others-inspiring!" - StJamesChurchPrim @church_prim
"Work with children with special needs - always something to reflect on that will make you remember why!" - scatti1 @scatti1
Others advised doing something linked to the job that we know we will enjoy:
"Choose a topic to teach that YOU love not just one the kids will or that needs covering." - Emma @HeyMissPrice
"Plan projects that excite you. A blog series, a club, a unit of work, a display. Anything that you can throw yourself into." - Sam Daunt @samdaunt
But many respondents talked about other ways of feeling re-inspired. Whilst some identified Twitter as a means for regaining inspiration, others advised having a break from the potential overload that Twitter can generate:
"Twitter. And writing. And looking at old keepsakes from parents and children. And Twitter." Mr. Phillips @Mr_P_Hillips
"Meeting other teachers, listening to inspirational workshops and even conversations on here [Twitter] have reignited my passion. I think you take it with a pinch of salt but reading blogs like yours and others and seeing #whatItaughttoday makes me miss classroom teaching." - Lisa C @Elsie2110
"Take a Twitter break. It's good for you. I'm looking forward to turning my Twitter off over the summer. I put a special Twitter break avi up. What I find it does is it reinforces the physical IRL relationships I have. The other thing is the significant number of mood hoovers on the edu-Twittersphere. I am constantly inspired by my children and my partner." Mark Anderson @ICTEvangelist (Mark went on to write a whole blog post about this idea: https://ictevangelist.com/have-a-break-have-a-twitter-break/)
Rebecca Stacey sums that contrast up well:
"Spend time in class with inspirational teachers. Read. Use Twitter wisely." - Rebecca Stacey @bekblayton
Many teachers recommend stepping out of the comfort zone and trying something new:
"New challenge outside of your comfort zone." - Joe O'Reilly @Edu_Wellbeing
"Take risks. Ignore the curriculum. Turn a drinking game into a classroom one. Think about experiences you want for your pupils first." Parky_teaches @Parky_teaches
"Try to carve out enough time to study something new. Often gives a new frame of reference to defamiliarise what may feel stale. Self care. Varies from person to person. My recharging usually comes from new knowledge but there are are different roads." - Diane Leedham @DiLeed
"Refocus your attention onto a new pedagogical idea or project to trial and then implement or roll out." - Steven Fox @SteveFoxAST
"What worked for me was moving age groups, working with new people and a new HT who didn't micro-manage." - Just Teaching @RunningToLearn
"What worked for me was moving age groups, working with new people and a new HT who didn't micro-manage." - Just Teaching @RunningToLearn
Sometimes, its not even a risk or a challenge that is needed, only a change:
"Change the way you do things. Just mix it up a bit." - Kat Schofield @PearlOchreRose
"Swap year groups, move school, change subject lead, take a risk, take a student, visit other schools, go on residential... Be a grape not a raisin! Grapes are engorged, juicy, sweet - full of ideas. Raisins are dried up, shrivelled, hard. We start as grapes and if we are not careful we end up as raisins." - Kate Aspin @etaknipsa
"Do something completely different in school, dump an afternoon you'd planned and do big art work, plan topic on the wall using marker pens then do something like that at home like let the kids choose everything for a day. Don't over think it." - Dorastar1 @Dorastar1
Many turn to books, conferences and personal learning to revitalise their teaching mojo:
"For me, continuous learning, being a student again, e.g. doing my MEd." - Dr Vincent Lien @fratribus
"I found the #NAHTConf really got me re-fired up. As does #TMSussex & reading edu-books. I hear there's a new one out for primary teachers..." - Jo Payne @MrsPTeach (Jo, alongside Mel Scott, has just had published her book 'Making Every Primary Lesson Count')
"I have been in a slump since January and going to a wellbeing conference the other day reinspired me. It was obviously the right content. But also the right time. Sometimes life can combine with school and make one or the other challenging. I think sometimes a slump ends when it ends but we can try to speed it up. It took me being surrounded by people and ideas." - Mr Wiltshire @secretsforabuck
"I've been listening to a lot of the TED talks on Youtube. Some are absolutely brilliant. Lots are not about teaching but still relevant!" - James Heeley @lhpHeeley
"Attending inspiring courses/CPD, which fill you with ideas, that you just can't wait to try out in class!" - Mr Mclugash @MrMclugash
"Twitter, Conferences and Teachmeets, reading books. Trawling the internet for ideas I can adapt. Talking to other Teachers." - The Hectic Teacher @HecticTeacher
Then there's Nancy Gedge's (@nancygedge) suggestion: "Take a break." It might seem counter-intuitive to stop when we should be seeking to remotivate ourselves but it is very possible that an overload of work (including using Twitter, reading blogs and books and going to conferences) is what leads to a lack of inspiration. Some more ideas which expand on Nancy's straight-talking comment:
"Attempt to switch off from all the logistical stuff during holidays, but still spend time recharging the creativity and imagination. I don't honestly switch off in the holidays; I feel I 'switch back' to the reasons I wanted to do it in the first place." - Jonny Walker @jonnywalker_edu
"Lots of the time it's less inspiration required and more feeling burned out. Making time for myself is key. That can be as simple as putting leave-in conditioner on my hair & watching Netflix all of Sunday, or going out with friends/family/boyfriend. Nice to recharge. If it's genuine lack of inspiration, talking to other teachers helps. At school or Twitter etc. Sharing ideas and triumphs is important." - Arithma-ticks @Arithmaticks
"Can I respond with a rhetorical question: what fills your tank? Do more of that! Different for each of us. Tank not being filled = imbalance." - Anita Devi | FRSA @Butterflycolour
"Spend time with those who inspire you and motivate you to be better than you ever thought possible. Relax. Refocus. Go again." - Charlotte Briggs @missb_teach
Focusing on the positive difference that we have the potential to make in the lives of others, and indeed the impact we have already had, was one of m particular favourite responses to my question:
"Take a step back, look at the positives you're making in 30 lives. Failing that I look through my teachers memory box!" - Alex @MrCYear5
"Think about the children, the difference you have made and continue to make and the impact it has." - Nicole Moore (Anand) @MooreNixie8
"Look back at some of the things that have gone well, and look to the future and know I have to make a difference for them." - Beckie @beckie_edu
Connecting with other professionals in different ways seems also to be a popular activity to get inspiration, an understandably so:
"Visit other schools." - Katharine Elwis @KElwis
"Great colleagues re-energise me. Their enthusiasm, drive and willingness to take risks curbs any complacency in me." - Lee Card @eduCardtion
"Go and visit other schools!" - Dan Nixon @pruman21
"I go and observe colleagues teaching. Seeing their enthusiasm in the classroom usually brings back my "mojo"!" - Jess @jrmdola
"Team teaching with other colleagues, collaborative planning sessions, Observe colleagues and letting my students lead the learning." - Bethan Schofield @1Bethanlouise
"Observe others teaching, that ALWAYS inspires me. We'll all work with some amazing professionals but are too busy to see this sometimes." - Laura Jackson @MrsJacksonMusic
There were many more replies to this Twitter thread, and more replies keep being added. To read everything, and to keep up-to-date with it, here is the link: https://twitter.com/thatboycanteach/status/877262764905041921
