I attended a national ECET2 (Elevating and Celebrating Teachers and Teaching) conference this past summer, and one of the highlights was participating in the #WhyITeach station. The concept was simple- all of us got a speech bubble, reflected on why we taught, and posted it on a large board. By the end of the first day, there were hundreds of #WhyITeach statements. Each one was personal and beautiful and moving. Collectively, they made a powerful statement about our profession and why the work of teachers is so completely complex, fulfilling, and rewarding. I left the conference feeling so humbled and proud to call myself a teacher.
I vowed to bring this activity back home to our beginning teachers. At our spring New Teacher Orientation last month, I opened with one question-
Why do you teach?
Teachers silently, individually reflected on their speech bubbles. They got together in pairs to talk about it and tell their #WhyITeach stories, and then their words started going up on the walls.
Why do you teach?
Teachers silently, individually reflected on their speech bubbles. They got together in pairs to talk about it and tell their #WhyITeach stories, and then their words started going up on the walls.
We left the teachers' words on the walls all day, going back to them and reading them aloud throughout our time together.
At the end of the day, the teachers took their words off the wall. My hope is that they took it back to their classrooms and posted it in a place where they could always look to in order to find their own inspiration. That in those moments when the work seems daunting and overwhelming, that their own words will come back to them and they will remember exactly why they're there, and exactly why it is truly a gift to be a teacher.