No, not those leadings. . .Try to stay with me.
I’m talking about those impulses we get that tell us whether or not we should do something.
Or not do something.
I’m talking about those little voices that say things like:
“Take the job”
“Move to Florida”
“Do NOT date that guy. He lives in his mother’s basement and has the largest collection of Brady Bunch memorabilia in the continental United States. Bad move! What about Brent in accounting? He seems nice.”
Some call this conscience.
Some call this a “gut reaction.”
Some simply call this a “hunch.”
But really, what everybody is talking about is a little thing called intuition.
Intuition is a knowing, an insight, or an understanding of circumstances that happens seemingly without conscious reasoning.
But as a society, we are very practical and we poo-poo the idea of listening to our inner wisdom. Especially in education, we want facts, data, smart goals.
But you know when your classroom needs a makeover. Or when a lesson needs an adjustment. Or when a student needs something that the state testing scores just haven’t unearthed.
You just know. . .But how?
In addition to your experience, your common sense, and your professional judgment, gifted teachers stop and listen to their intuition—even if they can’t articulate why—because they know those little voices are picking up on data we cannot experience consciously or sometimes can’t even put into words.
But gifted teachers learn to listen.
Here are some things you should know about intuition:
*It’s usually right.
*It’s a muscle that can be built and toned
*Listening to it takes practice
*It wants to help you.
*It often takes stillness and silence to get it to come to you.
*It’s patient, but it isn’t loud
*It waits for you to be still, to value silence, to want to listen.
So as we move into this new school year, remember that in addition to using your teaching experience, your common sense, and your professional judgment, please also remember to be still and listen to your intuition.
Because while it will whisper when you least expect it, you can rest assured that it will whisper.
Because even at its strongest, intuition never screams. TZT