Teaching is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
I’ve spent the last nine years in the classroom and every day presents its own unique set of challenges. Working with 8th graders? Pile on some more challenges! Academically undeserved student population?? More challenges. Students who have experienced trauma???
Well, I’m sure you get the picture. How do you cope when you are drowning in a sea of challenges in a profession that is already so isolating? If you’re asking me, the answer is in a daily “triage” with your team(s). I wouldn’t have survived as a first year teacher with the tremendous amount of support I received from teachers and administrators at my school. No teacher should feel like they are on an island, and every teacher deserves to be supported by their team.
Over the nine years I’ve been at my school, I have had the opportunity to provide “triage” support to my colleagues. At the end of hard day in the classroom, it is good to have someone to help you unpack and regroup for the next day. It is even better if this person is an educator on your team since they teach the same students and understand your perspective.
This blog is my attempt to capture and record some of this wisdom to widen the scope of teachers that I can help.
tri·age
/trēˈäZH/
the process of determining the most important people or things from amongst a large number that require attention.
Teacher Triage 