Keep the kids calm during a lockdown. See a student’s face light up as they grasp a concept. Redirect antsy students back to their classwork. Have a spontaneous chuckle at a student’s quippy comment. Resolve a conflict between two quarreling students. Pivot teaching strategies—from lecture to discussion to guided practice. Work well beyond contract hours.
Just another day in the life of an American teacher, according to Education Week.
Teaching jobs have gotten harder in recent years, amid a staggering youth mental health crisis and lagging academic achievement. Teachers are asked to meet all students’ needs, often with little support, middling pay, and what many perceive as a growing public antagonism toward the profession.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that the first-ever EdWeek Teacher Morale Index stands at -13, on a scale of -100 to +100. The figure connotes that overall, teachers feel more negatively than positively about the profession.
The teachers EdWeek observed teach different subjects and grade levels, across six states and diverse school settings. But their experiences highlighted common pressures and challenges: managing disruptive student behavior; tailoring instruction for students with a wide range of academic abilities; supporting a growing population of English learners, often without much training; and responding to countless unforeseen situations, both minor and serious.
Before the first bell – teacher prep time
Griselle Rivera-Martinez is already in the media center at 6:30 a.m., preparing for a mini reading lesson for 1st graders at her Florida school. Technically, her assignment is only to supervise, but Rivera-Martinez likes to turn every moment she has with students into a teachable on, according to Education Week.
She walks through rows of students sitting cross-legged on the floor, drawing their attention to the little whiteboard in her hand. Her calm, steady voice helps them settle down ahead of their first official class period.
More than 1,000 miles away, in Austin, Frank Rivera is multitasking. “It’s just go, go, go,” he says of his schedule, which officially starts with a 7:30 a.m. assignment of welcoming students in the carpool line as their parents drop them off.
The days are busy, and they’re also long. Teachers work an average of 57 hours a week, according to new national survey data from the EdWeek Research Center.
Less than half of that time is spent teaching, with administrative duties and other demands taking up large swaths of teachers’ days. Asked which task they would like to spend more time on, the largest share said preparation on their own, followed by actual teaching time.
In Chicago, Helen Chan takes the last few minutes before the bell to ready her classroom. She writes the day’s objective and a “do now” on the whiteboard, adding a reminder for students to turn in field trip permission slips. She shuffles desks around, putting her table groups back into place.
Instruction requires never-ending engagement
As students trickle into class, teachers ramp up their energy levels to keep students engaged and learning, according to Education Week.
“Good morning, children!” Frank Rivera calls out as he follows the last of his freshmen honors students inside and closes the door. “We have a lecture today!” After he’s greeted with silence, Rivera prompts: “I don’t hear enough excitement!”
Rivera walks around the room, one hand in his pocket, the other gesticulating, as he explains why the movies “Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Detective Pikachu” are examples of postmodernism.
It’s back to a more traditional topic in his next class, Advanced Placement Literature. Rivera reads a John Donne poem aloud.
Rivera switches gears again an hour later for 7th grade English. The students enter Rivera’s class with a mischievous but good-natured energy.
With each period, Rivera’s energy changes to meet that of the class. Now he’s the taskmaster, keeping kids focused and moving them through their work—very different from Rivera the Lecturer and Rivera the Facilitator of earlier class periods.
“Teaching is a passion,” says Jacqueline Chaney at New Town Elementary School in Owings Mills, Md. “It’s more than a job to me. I want to be the best. You have to commit to that.”
In Chicago, Helen Chan walks her students through the plan for the day’s math lesson. One group, the Lucky Charms, who are performing above grade level, will work in pairs on laptops in the hallway. The Super Lions, who are performing at grade level, will do a group lesson.
Chan stands in the doorway to the hall, making sure that the Lucky Charms are getting to work. “Settle, settle, settle,” she tells them. The students are sprawled out in pairs every few feet, some sitting against the lockers lining the hallway, others lying down resting on plush star-shaped pillows.
Chan heads back into the classroom to start on a problem with the Super Lions. Chan continues this dance between the hallway and the classroom, teaching the two groups at once, for the rest of her three math class periods.
In classrooms everywhere: Managing disruptive students
As Sofia Alvarez-Briglie, a science teacher, walks around the room, she issues several reminders to students to stay on task. Then, she pauses the class and tells students to take a moment for mindfulness. They need to stay in their seats, she tells them firmly.
If she had to rank their performance during the class period from zero to 10, she continues, “I would give us a six or seven in terms of how we followed expectations.”
Alvarez-Briglie is wary going into her second-to-last period. That class, which takes place after lunch and recess, has been particularly disruptive lately.
Alvarez-Briglie starts the class with a stern lecture: On Friday, the students had been so disruptive that at the end of the period, she and a student observer from the University of Oklahoma had turned to each other and exclaimed, “What was that?!”
“Whenever my classes spiral like that, I instantly start to feel like it’s my fault,” she said of Friday’s class in an interview later. “What did I not set up correctly in order for them to understand what was expected of them?”
Unlike other professionals, teachers can’t take a few minutes to go for a walk or grab a cup of coffee to clear their minds in the middle of the day. Their days are scheduled down to the minute; they are forced to compartmentalize, tamping down any strong emotions until the day’s over and their students are gone.
Alvarez-Briglie says, “I very much just kind of felt like a listening ear and somewhat of an advocate. … And then later in the day, you start to process.”
Teaching is not for the control freak
Teaching, Frank Rivera said, is “not for the control freak.” There’s always a fire to put out, an opportunity for a life lesson, or an unexpected interruption, according to Education Week.
Teachers find opportunities throughout the day to weave in character-building lessons. In Oklahoma, students are playing lacrosse in the gym period that Sofia Alvarez-Briglie teaches every day. The game is intense, and Olivia, a cheerleader, asks to quit and sit on the bleachers with her friends, who are nursing prior injuries.
“Did you try? I feel like you gave a 10 percent effort,” Alvarez-Briglie responds. She wants the girl to go all-in before she sits out the game. A compromise is reached: Olivia can stop playing after she engages with the ball at least twice.
Olivia rushes back onto the court with a renewed sense of purpose. She makes contact with the ball, and Alvarez-Briglie gives her the OK to join her friends. She tells the group: “Olivia did awesome! I’m just happy she tried. That made my day.”
Education Week
