The Joy of Teaching

Laura LenzMinnesota English Learner Education Conference

November 7, 2015

What is the state of the teaching profession?

About 13 percent of the nation’s 3.4 million teachers move schools or leave the profession every year, costing states up to $2 billion.

Researchers estimate that over 1 million teachers move in and out of schools annually, and between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers quit within five years.

(Alliance for Excellent Education and New Teacher Center, July 7, 2014)

What is the state of the teaching profession?

Attrition Among New Teachers in Minnesota:On average,16.4 percent were no

longer teaching in Minnesota after their first year.

32.3 percent left within five years of entering the profession.

(Teacher Supply and Demand Report, Minnesota Department of Education, 2015)

What is the state of the teaching profession?

Across the country, districts are struggling with shortages of teachers, particularly in math, science and special education — a result of the layoffs of the recession years combined with an improving economy in which fewer people are training to be teachers.

(New York Times, August 2015)

Objectives and Hopes

Participants in this workshop will reflect on, write about, and discuss their experiences, successes, and challenges as a teacher.

I will present 5 ideas that I find helpful in sustaining joy in the teaching profession.

What are the biggest challenges in your teaching life in recent years?You can respond by reflecting on your classroom, or your school, or as an English Learner teacher, or your district...or education in America, or all of the above.    

Is this the best we can hope for?

“We teach best what we most need to learn.”

Richard Bach, Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Connection

#Idea #1

Connection to your Identity and Integrity as a teacher

Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

Why did you decide to become a teacher? What brings you the greatest joy as a

teacher?

Who am I as a teacher?

As you listen to your partner’s answers, make a list of the strengths and positive attributes you can identify in them as a teacher. Share these with your partner.

Idea #2:

Connection to your students and their lives: Keep your eyes on the true prize.

Tell a story about a time you made a strong connection with a student.

Rita Pierson, TED talk: “Every Kid Needs a Champion.”Rita Video

Collect a different kind of data

Denver teacher, Kyle Schwartz, at the end of last school year, asked her students to complete this sentence:

I wish my teacher knew………..

Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzales: Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School: Mind/Shift on KQED

Some responses…..

“I wish my teacher knew how much I miss my dad because he got deported to Mexico when I was 3 years old, and I haven’t seen him for 6 years.”

“I wish my teacher knew that I’ve been having trouble balancing my homework and sports lately.”

“I wish my teacher knew I don’t have pencils at home.”

Idea #3

Connection to your colleaguesLift each other up. CollaborateMentor

Social Capital

“Social capital is not a characteristic of the individual teacher but instead resides in the relationships among teachers, between teachers and principals, and even between teachers, parents and other key actors in the community.”

Carrie R. Leana and Frits K. Pil, researchers. Valerie Strauss, October 19, 2014, Washington Post, “The glue that really holds a school together and that reformers ignore”.

Study

1,000 4th and 5th grade teachers across 130 urban elementary schools

Teaching with the same math curriculum

Measures students’ 1 year change in achievement in math

Results

Students showed higher gains in math achievement when their teachers reported frequent conversations with their peers that centered on math, and when there was a feeling of trust and closeness between the teachers.

Results

If a teacher’s level of social capital was just one standard deviation higher than the average, her students’ math scores increased by almost 6 percent compared to students of teachers with average social capital.

Validation

Use the index card to write a message to a colleague and give it to her/him.

Idea #4

Connection to your fire and passion for teaching

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

GRIT

PersistencePerseveranceFocusEngagementBelief in a growth mindset

Angela Lee Duckworth, TED Talk: “The Key to Success? Grit”

Angela Video

What is one area in your teaching life you can choose to focus on with grit? Consider your sphere of influence. (Stephen Covey)

Idea #5

Connection to your humanness

Mind your Non-negotiablesLaura McKowen, “Non-Negotiables, The Foundation for Everything Else”, I Fly at Night blog

“Non-negotiables are the core things that sustain you, allow you to stay sane, centered, and most importantly, to do your life work and serve others.”

“The circumstances of your life don’t exempt you from being a human being with physical, mental, spiritual and emotional needs. Ever. No human on earth is an exception.”

Non-Negotiables(Laura McKowen)“They are not luxuries.They are not complicated.They are not selfish.They are daily or close to daily

practices.They belong to you.”

One of my non-negotiables

Here are my non-negotiables.1. Running or hiking with my dog2. Meditating3. Getting 8 hours of sleep4. Connecting to people I love5. Reading something beautiful

that inspires meMake a list of your own non-negotiables.

Conclusion

1. Know who you are as a teacher. Remember your strengths. 2. Understand your students and keep your eye on the real prize.3. Be generous with each other; learn from each other; lift each other up.4. Practice grit.5. Mind your non-negotiables so you can be the person and teacher you were meant to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU&feature=youtu.be

From Rita Pierson:

“Is this job tough? You betcha. Oh, God, you betcha. But it is NOT impossible. We can do this. We are educators. We were born to make a difference.”