A Confident Walk Supports Teaching

Walking is a major part of what is involved with teaching. And it could be easily dismissed because it is like breathing; it just happens. But how we walk around is a super important support for ourselves and how we feel about ourselves, and also a reflection for students and colleagues.

Our feet provide a great resource for us in our role as teachers. How we place our feet on the ground as we walk from A to B or around the classroom are key fundamentals and resources we have at our fingertips.

The steadiness in which we can place our feet on the ground impacts how we move and are with ourselves for the day. It literally is – ‘from the ground up’ – the foundations from which we start.

I’ve discovered that during teaching, feeling my feet steady and firmly placed on the ground as I stand or walk supports everything else and I feel steady and confident. It also, like a Wi-Fi tower, offers a strong ‘signal’ or beacon in the room, that sets the tone for the class and students to connect to by laying down a standard.

Likewise, if I find I’m not feeling steady, I can connect to my feet. Walking around the room and sensing and being very deliberate about how I place my feet on the ground brings back any confidence which has been nudged off balance by student behaviours or self-doubts about my teaching.

I also find that walking around a school with a focus on my gait and steadiness, offers a sense of joy in my step. The steadiness and joy is infectious and flows to the rest of my body and I often receive comments from colleagues about how observing my walking around the school offers a reflection and support for them to settle and feel more calm.

Taking care of my feet has come back to the footwear I choose. I’ve tried to wear heels and I know others can do this with sass and I look at my colleagues who wear heels and I love it, but I just cannot do it. It’s not about a right or wrong of what shoes to wear, but I’ve loved exploring the different footwear options which support me to walk ‘my walk’ around the school, feeling the literal foundations laid, which offer the foundations of a settlement through the body, including the mind, which flows onto the teaching during the day.