The struggle to become the best teacher is real. Advice on improving my practice bombards me. I can always improve my classroom management, high leverage lessons, cognitive load, seating selection, social and emotional learning, PBIS, depth of understanding, classroom appearance, independent practice, test scores, and the constant drive to be better. Various amounts of information plague my being, creating a sense of urgency for the gaps that I can fill.

I lose myself in the career, because I find that the alternative will negatively impact students. I must follow various initiatives, fatiguing myself and making my passion towards change feeling like a burden. Students become test subjects in a slurry of initiatives designed from people who have not taught for decades. I begin to improve in one skill to find that there is a new and improved approach.

I rarely feel accomplished. Several tools are placed in the toolbox, stacked in a storage space, and filled to the brim where I cannot even figure out how to use such resources. Then, I am expected to use each of these pieces simultaneously with limited time.

As the clock ticks, and I realize that each moment is vital for students to achieve success; I cannot wait with idle hands, expecting change. I choose to stay in this profession, for I am passionate about my impact in the classroom. Ultimately, if I do not, there will be other teachers who come and go, for many leave. Our students deserve better and so do we.

Best,

Teachers Testimonials