Sometimes it seems that my life is an endless string of deadlines! Deadlines to enter speech, vocal, band, and math competitions; deadlines to get report cards out…there’s always something pressing. The two deadlines that stress me the most are the robotics engineering notebook and the yearbook due dates. Both require a lot of work to be done at the very last days. So many people are working on portions of each, and a small group of students and I put it all together for the two days before it’s due. I must admit that I’m not an extremely patient person during those two events! I am always happy with what we have produced, though. There’s such a great feeling upon completion – especially if the job was done well.
Teaching is a great profession for me because I love “beginnings” and “endings.” I can’t describe for you the excitement of a new academic year. Even though I teach many of the same lessons, no two years are the same. Each year has its own personality. The year begins, and in a steady procession, one deadline after another comes and goes, each exciting in and of itself.
I cannot imagine a life without projects and deadlines. I know that there are people out there who do a job day-in and day-out without ever experiencing any kind of deadline pressure, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine why they would choose a job like that. During the summer time, when I’m only teaching summer camps and all contests are on hiatus, I get so bored in the evenings. Teaching camp makes the days go quickly, but there are no deadlines on which to work during the evenings. I just about go stir crazy! Maybe it’s the adrenaline. I don’t know. I just know I love to be busy.
Gifted people are by nature procrastinators. If it were not for deadlines, many big ideas would never become reality. As a parent, don’t protect your children from the pressure of a deadline. In fact, go so far as to set some deadlines for them. They deserve that great feeling of accomplishment when they meet that deadline. Besides, the jobs worth having all have deadline assignments. Look it as prep for their future lives!
- Michelle