Ron Clark- The Excellent 11 - Chapter 11 Resilence

Clark opens the final chapter with the following quote, "There is no greater job in the world than raising a child. It is also unfortunately, one of the most difficult tasks anyone can ever undertake. As parents and teachers we must remember that when times are rough and difficulties arise through the learning and growing process, we have to stand strong and remain committed to doing whatever is necessary to raise our children with optimism, understanding, and love." (231)

Clark begins by talking about how overenthusiasm leads to teacher burn out. Teaching is a very demanding profession, and it it easy for teachers to feel burnt out, under appreciated, overworked and emotionally drained. Clark talks about as teachers, we have to learn to say no and put ourselves first. Often times teachers feel as though they can't say no, or feel guilty doing so, but if you don't do this, a burn out is enviable. Clark talks about refueling yourself so that you can be resilient and work through hard and draining points of teaching. He says that if you want to make teaching a lifelong profession, you have to take breaks along the way.

This chapter was short, but to the point, as a teacher you have to work through the hard points (because you know they are going to be there) and be resilient by taking care of yourself. You have to remind yourself and discover you love and passion within teaching and constantly remind yourself of it. I know personally that I have gone on a roller coaster trying to decide if teaching is the right profession for me. I know that my heart and my passion is totally in teaching, but I worry about keeping up with the demands and burning out. It has forced me to analyze and see if traditional classroom teaching is the right field for me. I think what I have learned most about Clark's books is that teaching skills are life skills. We are all teachers in some facet, and that the skills he is talking about can be adapted into almost any and every field.