by Kelly White
“What do you do?”
“I’m a teacher.”
For people who last spent time in classrooms when they were students, this is a simple job. A job, but not a career. Certainly not a profession.
“What grade?”
No matter the answer, the conversation inevitably turns to nostalgia about the other person’s schooling. The discussion about my profession is over, as we have transitioned to memories of elementary school.
The nuance of what I do and the work I put in to ensuring student growth, happiness, and engagement is not of importance. Truth be told, it is difficult to explain without the jargon: the stakes of Common Core State Testing, the balance of incorporating rigor while differentiating for all students’ needs, the complexity of building positive rapport with families and being honest with them about struggles in school.
There is a component to teaching that should be rainbows and butterflies, and it does always delight me to hear new acquaintances speak fondly of their former teachers, the way their teachers cultivated their interests and talents and built the foundation for their future. Yet, it is more than that. It is a career, that, at the end of the day, we do because we need a salary and benefits. We do it well, not only because we care, but also because it is our profession.
It is difficult to brand ourselves as professional educators, but it is essential that we do. It may not happen over the course of drinks with acquaintances (though business cards may help), but it is a good place to start.
Over the course of the next month, we will devote time and space on this site for strategies to brand our work as the profession it is.. We will explore how to market our work using data, how to represent the myriad skills we use daily on a resume, and how to speak about our work using more than feelings and memories. We will explore the interview process and how to best showcase our skills in a demo lesson. This work is meaningful, it is difficult, and it needs to be valued.