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"When we learn how to teach, we must also consider what it will feel like to teach."
Chapter 1: Teacher Exit & Hope
Chapter 1 grounds readers in the realities of the profession, illustrating the sudden gap between early expectations and the emotional toll of the classroom. It examines "The Great Teacher Escape" and current policy responses, arguing that the true root of retention lies in providing teachers with emotional support. Finally, it introduces the concept of "Both/And" thinking and highlights how intrapersonal self-awareness helps educators navigate the inherent pains of teaching.
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When you think back to your first year of teaching, what did that first year feel like for you? What day of the week was most difficult and why? What month in that school year was most difficult and why?
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The “Both/And” concept reminds us that teaching can hold two truths at once. Teaching can be deeply fulfilling and discouraging, rewarding yet emotionally challenging. What does the “Both/And” concept mean to you? Describe a moment in your teaching when you experienced this dichotomy. What did the experience teach you, and how did it affect you emotionally?
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Today, there is a teacher shortage that some are calling a crisis, in which many are leaving the profession sooner than expected or are choosing not to join the profession. In your opinion, what is causing this problem? How do you feel this is affecting students, classrooms, and school systems? How does this make you feel?
ReflectionQuestions
QUOTES
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“Teachers entering the profession—and those already in the profession—are wholly unprepared for the emotional provocations and stresses that are frequently presented to them one after another from multiple places.”
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“It is not so much that school districts have a staffing problem. What they have is a teacher emotional support problem.”
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“While learning to teach, the focus is on the physical components of the job, and because there are so many of these, it leaves little time for teachers to learn how teaching will impact them emotionally and what they can do about it.”
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