Teaching as a Profession

Coming into Teach for America I had preconceptions about what teaching would look like. I thought it would be fairly straightforward, I would teach students academic content on math, reading, writing, science and social studies. I thought it would involve grading papers and giving feedback. However, the entire experience became significantly different than I had originally envisioned. I realized that as an educator, my voice can leave the four walls of my classroom to impact change in a different sphere. That teaching as a profession means also being an advocate for your students. The way I found myself doing this to the fullest potential is advocating through Educators 4 Excellence where I can use my writing to spread awareness. This article I wrote for MinnPost serves as an example of how I realized my voice and passions can serve as a pathway to greater advocacy as a teacher.

I realized as a teacher I wielded a lot of power in how we communicate expectations and carry out discipline practices to students. In the article I was able to call on personal stories that helped me take what I was learning in the classroom to a more public sphere. The opening story about Jeremiah taught me that the stories in the classroom are impactful in creating a bigger picture of the story of educational inequities in our schools. I was then able to call upon data in our district, the place where I invest myself the most, to see how these small stories play out in reality. I never thought something like data collection in the realm of policy would be something I would do as an educator.

The most impactful part of the article that changed the way I saw teaching was when I wrote about the alternatives to suspensions. At this point I realized that as an educator I could voice my opinions on solutions to larger problems. Rather than just restating and telling others of the problems that exist, the alternatives section allowed me to advocate on behalf of students by suggesting things that work in the classrooms. Going past that, I was able to advocate on behalf of a bill that included more inclusionary practices near the end of the article. That allowed me to give a call to action for educators.

Reflecting through the lens of a second year teacher and opportunities I have had for advocacy, teaching has become equal parts developing and preparing children to be leaders and successful in the world as well as advocating for them in the policy sphere. Through this, and what the article shows, I learned that as a teaching professional I have multiple masks I wear and each of them are uniquely necessary in the fight for educational equity. As I continue to reflect on what teaching means to me, I hope to engage parents and families more in the process of policy advocacy. They play such a large role in the lives of the students we are advocating for and more likely than not, the bills that are being passed have a direct impact on them. In “Everyday Engagement” Katy Ridnouer discusses the importance of meaningful parent engagement. She states how important it is to change our perspective of parent engagement from tallying the number of times we make contact to thinking of significant ways parents can participate in the schooling process, both outside and inside the school. I see policy advocacy as a unique way to engage parents and families, either through writing op-eds for newspapers or advocating at the capitol.