In an interview with Chalkbeat Chicago, Rachael Mahmood, a veteran elementary school teacher at Indian Prairie School District 204 who was named Illinois Teacher of the Year in 2024, discusses how she spent her professional development year that comes with the honor to learn what belonging means to teachers and what school districts can do to support them.
Mahmood organized about 50 meetings across Illinois throughout the year, which attracted crowds ranging from 30 to 600 people — nearly 2,500 participants in total. Almost 2,000 work in schools. The meetings were open to educators, students, and families. Mahmood traveled all over the state, visiting school communities in rural, suburban, and urban areas.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did educators define belonging in the meetings?
Belonging is deeply personal, and it’s different for everybody. School districts need to know how their educators define belonging, how their students define belonging, and how their students’ families define belonging. No matter what demographic you came from, safety and security were a big theme that came out of how we define belonging.
What were teachers’ greatest strengths when it comes to creating a space of belonging at school?
The greatest strength was basically this idea of being empathetic and responsive to each other. They really named their colleagues as their greatest strengths. They said things like “My colleagues are supportive. My colleagues are welcoming. My school is welcoming. My colleagues are kind. We take care of each other.” This idea of trust and teacher care.
What were the barriers to belonging in schools for teachers?
The most frequently expressed barrier was the way staff engages with each other. It’s ironic. Our greatest strength is our colleagues; we have the power to lift each other up and support each other, and that means a lot to us as educators. But at the same time, we have to be careful with each other’s hearts. We have to know each other’s stories, our concerns, priorities, how we talk to each other, treat each other, and treat and support students and families.
What did educators suggest to have teachers, students, and families feel like they belong?
Staff engagement and a lot of action around building teacher trust and care. Actions around how we empower students. How we increase communication. Those were the four themes.
What were some takeaways from the conversations that you hosted?
If we want people to feel a sense of belonging, we gotta ask them what belonging means to them. We have to honor what it means to them, and we have to strive and align our actions towards those outcomes.
With all the information that you gathered, what do you plan to do now?
I’m going to talk about the need to center educator voices in spaces where educators are impacted. The need to center the voices of our community, having more community-driven definitions, and community-driven actions.
Chalkbeat Chicago
