TL;DR:
- Rather than waiting for opportunity, look for ways to create it.
- Reflect on what you want to accomplish and where you want to take your career.
If you’ve read anything that I’ve written in this series, you will know that I like the sea. Oceans are the lifeblood of the planet and there have been many people, Dr. Sylvia Earle being one of them, who have said that Earth should be renamed Ocean. Over 75% of the surface of the planet is water. From space, we can be referred to as the Pale Blue Dot, thanks to the poetic wisdom of Carl Sagan.
For most people, the ocean is what it appears to be at the surface.
Those who dive (or at least those who watch the myriad of great ocean documentaries) will know that the ocean’s surface is simply the gateway to a whole new world, abundant in life, teeming with colours and design beyond imagination. It is one of my goals to learn to dive and experience the beauty that exists generally out of sight, below the surface of the ocean.
I have, however, had the experience to sail on the big salt. I owned a 26-foot sailboat for 6 seasons, having never sailed a boat that size prior to owning it. Belle was a beauty, as her name implied, and was a large piece of equipment to learn to sail on. Despite the challenge though, my wife and I, and our four kids, took up sailing and toured the southern Gulf Islands of the Salish Sea.
We learned terms like sheet and cleat, leach and luff, starboard, and port. We learned to tie the appropriate knots and how to read the navigation signs. And we had many, many spectacular cruises, bouncing and beating to the wind, riding the swells as Belle heeled and splashed on her way. I always told guests that I found it interesting that the longer we sailed, the better the boat performed for us. But it was she that was teaching us, the willing students who took the opportunity to study under the direction of the sail, the wind, and the swell.
My wish for all teachers is that rather than waiting for opportunity, look for ways to create opportunity. Click To TweetI wonder though if this experience of sailing was an opportunity that we “took” or one that we created.
Years ago, I worked with a teacher who was a master linguist. Seemingly, he knew the root of every word and I marveled at the origins of language. This can be applied to the word opportunity. Let’s first define it as there are many ways to do so.
Opportunity can be explained as an appropriate or favourable time or occasion (dictionary.com). Opportunity could be “your best opening to add value to people in ways that best align with who you are and most energize your spirit” (leadershipfreak.blog). Opportunities can be seen as rare, attractive, timely, a favourable juncture of circumstance, a good chance for advancement or progress (merriam-webster.com).
Looking closer at the root of the word, I found that the word comes from the Latin, ob portum veniens, translating as “coming toward a port.” Interesting to me again because I came towards a port many times when I was sailing. If the wind was favourable, it could even allow you to sail right into the harbour. So then, “opportunity” could be thought of as something brought about by a good wind that blew your way.
With all this said, I want to reflect on a few themes that I saw come from this linguistical exercise.
I see words like rare, or chance, or alluding to a fortunate wind, all of which seem to fall outside of our control. As if to say that opportunity comes to the fortunate few who happened to stumble onto favourable conditions or stood at the right place at the right time. Indeed, it implies that there is an element of luck required for opportunity to arise in your life.
I think of comments I’ve heard over the years where a student would say how lucky somebody was to have such good marks. I’ve always responded with an incredulous look, imploring that luck was not the reason, but perhaps hard work and dedication.
And what about you, the teacher?
Are you lucky enough to have opportunities at school that “align with who you are, and most energize your spirit”? Can I suggest that if you don’t feel you’re that lucky, start by eliminating the word luck? Go back to my sailboat story. You see, I learned to sail, not because I was lucky, but because I created the circumstances that would ultimately energize my spirit. At school, I teach astronomy which best aligns with who I am, but not because I’m lucky. I teach it because I asked if I could.
My motivation for writing this is I hear teachers across many geographical regions wishing to be in a better circumstance, hoping for more favourable conditions. It’s my experience, however, that suitable circumstance or opportunity may be more in your control than you might think. My wish for all teachers is that rather than waiting for opportunity, look for ways to create opportunity.
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It is said of the sail that it offers the least power when it is noisy, yet the greatest work is done when it’s silent.
If opportunity is a fortuitous wind, yet you haven’t set your course, then I would suggest that there is no wind that is fortuitous. So as a teacher, take some time to quietly sit and reflect on what you want to accomplish and where you want to take your career. Consider those students whom you will, through your expert guidance, set off on great voyages to distant shores. Energize your spirit by making your opportunities, aligning them with who you are.
I encourage you to craft your teaching career around this quote. Read this, then make it happen:
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than those you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
– Mark Twain
About Tim Stephenson
Tim has been teaching in Langley, British Columbia for over 25 years. He’s a science teacher, particularly astronomy, which is a course he has developed into a full credit senior science course. In his school, he is known as AstroStephenson. Way back at the beginning of his teaching career, he wrote a book, really to himself, that contained his teaching philosophy. It was a project that would define his career. He is a possibility thinker, a dreamer and a doer, an innovator.
From the very beginning, he knew that he wanted to teach by putting students and relationships ahead of content, and putting experiences and emotions ahead of curriculum. The result has been a long career of rich and rewarding experiences for both himself and his students, the pinnacle being in 2018 when he was the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
Now Tim would like to share with you his thoughts and experiences on teaching with the hope that by reflecting better, you will feel empowered to try new things, teach in new ways and see the possibilities that are there for all of us in the teaching profession.
