What are you good at?

 

This kind of says it all. Try new things. Find something you enjoy doing. Find something you are good at. Be the best at it. It doesn't matter if fractions scare you or past participles send you running for the hills, if you find something that inspires you, whether that be science, painting, football, writing - pursue it.

I was defined as an 'all rounder' at school, and whilst doing 'quite well' at most things, there was never anything that stood out as my forte. Even my decision to go to university was figured along the lines of 'well that's what people do after A-levels', I chose my degree based on what I enjoyed doing at school, not necessarily what I was best at and whilst enjoying every minute of it, have never found anything that I would say 'inspired' me - until, that is, I spent time teaching in Germany. In my personal statement for UCAS  I rattled on about my 'passion' for English Literature, and 'fascination' of German culture. 'Lies' is a bit strong, but really? I am certainly interested by Germany, and enjoy English Literature, but a 'passion' for it!? No, at Warwick I have met people with so-called passions, and I am certainly not one of them! Normally I cringe at words like 'inspiration' and 'passion', but I am nothing but envious of people who have found theirs.

I hope that I may have found my forte with teaching, but only time will tell. I may be about to put myself through the worst 2 years of my life. Or I may have finally found my (cringe alert!) passion. 

Earlier in March I spent 5 days at a Teach First type primary school, and whilst I could go on and on about everything I experienced one boy in particular stood out for me. This boy was in year 4, had been recently diagnosed with dyslexia, and let's just say he wasn't taking it too well. He thought dyslexia was a label for stupid, and refused to acknowledge it at all. He admitted to hiding any of the equipment to help him with reading and writing and spent a whole hour saying 'Miss i'm not stupid, I could do the work but I don't want to, I just need glasses.' My heart really went out to him; he spent half the morning in the year 2 class for literacy, which whilst catering to his literacy level, was clearly not doing much for his 'street cred' and he was very reluctant to do anything, lacked concentration and was badly behaved. The next day I was in the year 4 class, the same boy was there and I was shocked to see the change in him. He was sat at the front of the class, being very well behaved, putting up his hand to answer questions, doing exactly as the teacher told him. The reason? They were doing art. He took pride in the work he did that lesson, and really engaged with the task (they were making figurines by bending wire).

The moral of the story? Not everyone can be good at everything. Not everything can be your passion. Try new things. Find something you enjoy doing. Find something you are good at. Be the best at it.

.... And don't be panicked when you don't find that something overnight!