When Teachers Become Researchers

You know that feeling when you have a conundrum in some aspect of your teaching and it just nags at you? It sits on your consciousness as you are falling asleep, as you are waking up, as you are savasana-ing after yoga, as you are driving to and from work. You might have a few minutes in the day to bounce an idea or two off a colleague to try to solve this challenge, but your conversation inevitably gets severed by another urgent need. You grow to slightly resent this one aspect of your teaching because you can't find the correct path to proceed on.

As teachers, we need an army of encouragers, a squad to cheer us on through the missed shots. We need a gaggle of supporters to hold us accountable and reach for the stars. We need professional development that doesn't just check a box mandated or guided by a distant school leader. It has to be personal and passion-fueled and make an actual, visible difference in our teaching practice.