Prompt 3
What are some challenges or roadblocks to achieving your professional goals?
— Sharon Cason
oppositional definance
During a writing assignment with my student, he was instructed to write a short story about his favorite food. We decided that his favorite food was chocolate chip cookies and started discussing their ingredients, taste, and aroma. However, the student insisted that his favorite cookie was oatmeal cookies instead.
— Jenn Bartley
missing the point
Frustration in the classroom shows up in many different ways. Broken or missing pencils aren’t a sign of defiance or destructive behavior. Rather they are a quiet plea for help as they don’t want to be vulnerable in front of their peers. As educators, it’s important to read between the lines and not get caught up missing the point.
teaching…plus
— “Grace Zhang”
This picture shows an effort to provide an opportunity for the girls in my school to gain exposure to professions in STEM through hearing successful women in these fields talk about their work. It is an example of what teachers can do outside of their main teaching responsibilities. The need for more women in STEM fields, the need for more diversity in the educator workforce...these are examples of systemic issues. Other than school or district administration, teachers often do not have additional leadership pathways available to them that can allow them to participate in other crucial areas of the education system, without leaving the classroom. If they do find ways to participate at the systems level, it is in addition to an already heavy workload. On the other hand, other countries with high-performing education systems offer multiple leadership pathways for teachers.
— Angela Couch
overworked
There are so many things that are required of teachers: pacing guides, curriculum implementation, meeting after meeting, making sure that students get the test score needed to show the “correct” growth, even though a student may have grown by leaps and bounds and may not reach that score. We as teachers try to stay on top of all it without any kudos, appreciation, or recognition.