On making the choice to be a teacher
Would I choose teaching again? 100-percent, yes. Would I do some things differently? Absolutely.
But yes, I love teaching. Like, I'm getting emotional just saying that I love teaching. I love what its purpose is. I love the development and the change you see every year in every single kid that comes through. I love teaching. There's a lot of things I don't love, but I love teaching, and I would choose it again and again and again.
I've actually been with SPS for two years now. I teach 7th-grade science. I've been teaching middle school science for about five years, and I've been in education for 13.
Why Annette made the choice to be a teacher
"The reason why I became a teacher is because I know the challenges of being a student who's misunderstood, troubled and struggling. I had a very difficult childhood, and I always wanted to be the teacher I needed for all of these kids that I encounter. So the best part of my job is that moment when the kids are so invested and excited by what we're doing, they just dive in head first, and they don't even realize that they're learning, but they're so actively engaged, and they share their thoughts, their ideas, and they're just the weight of social pressure. Peer pressure is off their shoulders, and they're just giving everything. That's my favorite moment.
Challenges of teaching include classroom management, 'ever-changing' politics
There are a lot of challenges with the job.
Let me try to break this down a little bit: When we talk about challenges, those can be — of course — classroom management challenges. And I think with classroom management, it's really about getting to know them — the students — really well, but also them getting to know you well. And understanding what boundaries are, and setting the expectations and standards that we can all agree upon, if that makes sense.
It's vital that we develop a strong classroom community, and you can see when it's not there, and it is a strain and a struggle. And so when I encounter those challenges, I have to continue to be willing to adapt. And that leads me to another challenge.
As a teacher, you have to be the most adaptable creature on the planet.
As a teacher, you have to be the most adaptable creature on the planet. Every day presents a new challenge that you have to be ready to shift, and adjust fire, and make things different, to meet the needs of that day. And that is a big, huge challenge. A third challenge that I see with education is, you know, the — I'm going to word this as carefully as I can — but the political landscape. It's ever-changing. And as a teacher, that's our job to ensure that we are staying focused on our students. And I think that that can sometimes get confusing, with all of the different things that change day by day, in some cases, or year by year. But as long as we keep the kids at the center of that, we can deal with that.
Teacher pay — 'we need to survive'
Well, I mean, I'm always going to advocate for more pay for teachers. (Laughs lightly.) Teacher pay is a challenge, for sure. None of us go into teaching — and I know this has been vocalized before — for the pay. We really aren't in it for that. However, we have reached a point where, economically speaking, the pay is important enough for us to — because we need to survive. And at my level, I'm up on the pay scale significantly enough that I function well, but I have to budget... very well. I am very... controlled on my spending.
What Annette wants the public to know about teachers like her
I would love for the community at large — so, those that do not have children in school, and for the parents — to know that we the teachers, are 100-percent here for the kids. Our singular goal is to see these kids be successful. And what does success look like? That's dependent on the individual. I really think that teachers voices need to be heard and listened to.
Teachers are on the front lines of education. We have knowledge, experience and data that should be listened to and utilized. There's a lot of policy that deeply impacts students and teachers alike. And teachers have a very unique perspective on it, and we should be heard — and that's about it.
