Can our world be changed from the classroom?

A Reflection

   Changing the world and having happier people may depend on the  inner motivation of each of us. It is widely known that we tend to do that we are more interested in and maybe that we dream of mostly. However, there is a point in which we stop trying and situations appear to continue forever. Then we may ask ourselves why we have this kind of reality we see everyday. Maybe we, as teachers, may have the chance to influence what our students will decide to do in the future and thus they may do some of the changes which would benefit not only them but also the rest of us.

   Something which motivates me again when I feel things are going wrong and feel frustrated, is to think  about what are those changes I would like to get in my life. Then, my imagination begins to show me images of  what a better life would be like. I will make a list of them and I get ideas such as "I would like to enjoy more when I am at work". Then, I ask myself how could I achieve that and my mind starts thinking about possible solutions, or strategies,  which I could apply in order to overcome those obstacles I experience when I at work. The next stage will be to apply and evaluate the results and see how well things went, bearing in mind that I may fail or succeed in what I wanted to do but also remembering that I should keep trying.

   That is a well-known process about how to create ideas and get changes in your life. Maybe, we could devote some lessons in which our students have to deal with problems and dreams as topics.  In order to reactivate their motivation we may ask them what their needs are, or what it is the dream that they had but think of as impossible to achieve. We could also show them images of better lives, or videos about what many common people achieved starting from very hard situations. After that, we could ask them to write ideas about how they could achieve those changes or what steps they should follow in order to get nearer to their dreams. Maybe, we could ask them to write reflections to hand in about how good the results were.

   Having a better and happier world may be a matter of getting the habit of starting to think again, planning, applying, evaluating and never giving up. However, it may not be the only way. It would positive if we as teachers could share ideas about how to improve things and also apply them.