Welcome back to Off the Record, where the interviews stay anonymous and the conversations flow freely.
Four years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the education system. Issues were exacerbated, resources were strained, and teachers were under pressure. In the present, some pressure still remains. In this installment of Off the Record, we’re diving into the intersection of teacher challenges with a mid-career educator. Check out the transcript of our chat below, edited for clarity.
Xavier Shakes: What techniques have you used in order to combat challenges in the school system?
Educator: I’m learning something new every year. Every month, I’m learning more information about best practices and what should be happening for students. A lot of things may be repackaged or recycled; however, I’m finding the foundational strategies are what we need to help students make gains.
We also have to support families, especially families who may not have had a positive experience in the education system. Helping families be able to trust what is happening in the school building is a must. You have to start with building trust with families and then they don’t see you as a threat. They begin to say, ‘Oh, she’s an advocate just like I’m advocating for my child. She spends a lot more time with them during the day, and she’s trying to instruct them to help them learn. So let’s try to give this person a try. Let’s, you know, listen and see what else we can do to help support our child.’
XS: How do you continue to learn as an educator?
Educator: There is newness every single year. I have new students. I have new challenges. Then, there are our administrators, the superintendent, the state is holding us accountable, and parents are holding the state accountable. We have to justify what we’re doing each and every day with students. I’m learning all these best practices to reach students who may be struggling and advocating for students who need something more than what I’m able to give. So, I go to other teachers. I may go to my administration. I also am part of a team in my building, and we focus on instruction and instructional interventions. This has really helped me grow as a learner in the field of education.
XS: There’s a lot of responsibilities that teachers have. How are you balancing the aspects of this job and your personal life?
Educator: Work and life balance is a struggle for me. As I talk to other teachers, even the single ones don’t have a lot of extra time. They don’t have the responsibility of a family, unless they’re caring for parents. There are so many hours outside of the school being an educator that you’re grading papers. You’re returning phone calls. The parents are checking in. You’re making sure that you are not behind on any data information that needs to be shared. You’re making sure you are not behind on lesson planning because we have to plan in advance.
You plan out for a quarter. In those quarters, you have nine weeks. In those nine weeks, you have five days and every day you have to have detailed plans to show what are you teaching and what’s the objective. You have to make sure the students understand the objective, what you’ve covered, and if they can produce a product or produce something showing they understand what you’ve gone over.
So, you’ll have a classroom where you have so many students at multiple mastery levels. Sometimes you’ll have more students at non-mastery because they’ve come in with gaps.
And I know a lot of stress has been put down on kindergarten, and first grade for them to be reading, and developmentally, some students just aren’t ready in kindergarten to be readers. Some students come and they’re not as prepared as maybe say, other students who have been read to. So there’s a lot of mental anguish for teachers trying to get them to achieve.
You want all of your students to learn. You want all of them to progress. You want all of them to make gains, but we need that continued support from home. So, that’s why you have to build trust, as I stated earlier. But also, you may have some families to say, ‘I didn’t do so well in school, and I don’t know how to help my child, or I have two to three jobs so I can’t help my child; I’m tired.’
So they’re thinking, ‘I’m doing the feeding clothing, providing shelter. I can’t help with school as much. Can you please keep them after for tutoring?’ You only have so many slots for tutoring. Some schools will offer tutoring to everyone but parents have to provide transportation.
It’s just a lot that you have to balance and you feel like you can’t save everyone. You want to help everyone, but you can’t save everyone. It’s just that mental wear-and-tear of a balance, and knowing that you still have your own life, your own children you’d like to spend time with.
XS: Thank you. You touched on a lot of the complexity that comes with this profession . Last question. As far as mental health goes, what would a healthy work life balance look like for you and or other teachers?
Educator: Healthy life balance…hmmm…having some time on the weekend to spend with your family or taking time to actually have a getaway with family or friends. A lot of times, just one social event a week or every two weeks is helpful. But, and it may just be me, I don’t tend to have a very good balance when it comes to working life when I’m in the trenches. And maybe, I could do things in the summer. I know a lot of teachers look forward to the summer because we miss some of those milestones with our families during the school year.
XS: Thank you for these insights and your time.
Have education thoughts you want to share anonymously? Email us at connect@indykidswinning.com.
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