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Purpose of Teaching

Activating Intention

The busier we get, the harder it becomes to connect with purpose. Our students are very busy this week: registering for classes, preparing for final exams, and completing final projects.

It is tempting to counsel our students to just get through. And there is real wisdom to this advice. When confronted with a too-big to-do list, we have to start working.

At the same time, I also encourage us to open spaces for students to pause. As much as the work in front of us is an obligation, it is also always an opportunity. But we won’t see the opportunity if we are too busy to see it.

A certain amount of busyness is unavoidable. But if we never pause, we don’t leave room for joy. In whatever way we can, open up spaces for students to re-connect with purpose, so they can finish the semester with intention.

And if you are an advisor, help students use the upcoming winter break to get more intentional about the spring semester. I recommended this activity earlier, but I am teaching Quarterlife this semester, and my students really enjoyed the 15-minute stick figure exercise.

And though I am on the other end of quarterlife, I found the exercise useful. It is easy for me to get trapped in habits that don’t enliven, and I often lack the courage to embrace the types of change that I know would be good for me and the people around me.

Intentionally pushing ourselves when we feel like things aren’t working is a great way to model what it means to be a lifelong learner, and it is a great way to bring more joy into our teaching and the lives of people around us. Not that it is easy.

If anyone is interested in talking more about how to find more joy and possibility in teaching, I am always available.