Inspiration boulders
Call to Teach
The EARLY CAREER WATERFALL
“I had a little waterfall crashing down at the start of my river, because I feel like when I came into teaching I was high energy, super excited about it. When I did my teaching placements I felt really natural – to get up and talk in front of kids felt really comfortable. I think I was just trying my best to make this stuff fun and memorable… And I felt like after grad school there was also this waterfall of what I should know, and some of it I just wasn’t confident in. I was like, oh my gosh, how am I going to teach this stuff? In math specifically, I knew the right answers, but I didn’t know why all the wrong answers were wrong. So how do I teach that?”
“Well, it starts with this waterfall, which is me beginning my student teaching… When I got into teaching, I didn’t really know exactly where I wanted to go. I knew that I wanted to explore learning through play. And I had a lot of really big ideas about holistically bringing things together – vague, but big ideas. And I really struggled and I really didn’t like it. In the UAS MAT program I was in, we would talk a lot about stuff that I was really passionate about, like place based teaching and all this culturally responsive stuff and all these things, and I just was not seeing it in the school environment where I was. I had a really hard time getting through the year.”
“Like those rough years as a new teacher where you’re still trying to figure out who you’re going to be. I think Artful Teaching really kind of gave me that sense of: this is what I’m going to be. I’m going to be a teacher that uses the arts.”
ANSWERING the CALL to TEACH
An educator’s journey begins with the “Call to Teach” – making the challenging choice of becoming a teacher. Both Sam and Jess described the beginning of their careers as a waterfall – full of risk, high energy, and dramatic shifts. But along with the sense of panic and struggle they shared, they also indicated the underlying values and beliefs and desire to have a positive impact that motivated them to take that leap.
REFLECTION EDDIES
What insights do the stories from Sam and Jess offer?
How can nurturing and affirming the core values, beliefs and motivations of a new teacher help them navigate the challenges they face and gain the skills they need?
What might it mean to follow (rather than lead) a new teacher in answering their “Call to Teach?”