Today's entry comes from David Wicklund, Pinewood Special Education teacher and Mounds View Fellow:
With more of an emphasis today in education being placed on the whole learner, non-cognitive skills, and our own “habits of mind,” we teachers find ourselves being pulled in so many directions. At times the job can seem daunting. Read teacher blogs, daily commentary in the news or opinion pages, or watch the political education rhetoric being produced and you know that we teachers and our students are consistently feeling the pressures placed on our schools.
The sense of urgency with which teachers teach should not be lost with those both inside and outside of classrooms. At our best, teachers are agents of change who engage all learners, work collaboratively within school communities, inspire creativity, continually seek best practices, embed technology for better understanding, and feel a passion to work for all students especially the most vulnerable in our communities. Celebrated success is all around us.
Although we know the daily expectations that are on all teachers, for the most difficult classrooms, we teachers can feel the opposite of inspirational or inspired. Most days it can feel like we are operating in constant emergencies. The never-ending need to adjust, find solutions, maintain growth, balance relationships, build consistency in the classroom and school, all while operating with a “growth mindset” can be overwhelming. What happens when school communities daily struggle to understand all students who enter their schools? How do school communities grow and create narratives that can be internalized for all students, for all in the community?
