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It is important to reflect on ourselves as teachers regularly. What is the vision we have for ourselves? What drives our careers, or even our day to day decision making? There is so much pressure, both as teachers and as leaders, to meet everyone’s needs, so many demands on our time, and we are pulled in so many directions. So let’s strip all of that away… to try and get some clarity on our purpose and our vision… Let’s consider “Why am I here?” Think about the things that get you up in the morning and get you to come to work. Not the mortgage, or the bills or the obligations to family – they’re a given - we’ve all got to go to work. What is it that really drives you? What is it about your job that you really believe in. There are a lot of things that happen in teaching that can be frustrating or overwhelming, and if you can’t find the thing that keeps you going it is going to be hard to sustain yourself in the job – whether it is this particular job or your teaching career in general…and we know that people are leaving the profession. Why is this navel gazing important? If you have a personal vision it can actually empower you when you feel like you have no control over the broader context and circumstances. It can ensure that your decision-making is targeted towards choosing tasks and directions that best suit the needs of our students, and that you believe in what you are doing. It is likely to give your careers some longevity and keep you in the game. Teacher visioning can empower educators to give them a voice against institutional directives that limit teachers’ decisions. Teachers can use their vision to drive decisions and better meet the needs of their students. “By creating a vision for teaching, educators are able to craft an “ideal image” of what it is they wish to accomplish in their classrooms and use this to sustain them throughout their teaching career” (Hammerness, 2006) Take a moment to consider your vision of the ideal teacher. What are the features and characteristics of the ideal teacher? Now that you have this vision of the ideal teacher, put it to the side a little because we also need to recognise that we have relationships and families, a social life and personal obligations that all need attention too. It’s not possible to be the ideal teacher, but if we have in mind what we could be or what is most important to us, that will help us when we need to make decisions about what activities we sacrifice or what we can and can’t do when the pressure is on. It will give us something to guide us. Having a vision can help teachers maintain their passion for the job and stay in the job at a time when a lot of teachers are leaving. 
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