Teacher Tales #18 – Finding your teacher tribe, asking for what you need, balancing demands as a parent and as a teacher: Lisa P – Chinese teacher, single mom, networking “specialist”

In this episode, we meet Lisa and gain a new perspective on what it is like to teach a subject that only four other teachers in your state teach. Lisa tells us how challenging it was to even become certified in a subject such as Chinese, but also how difficult it was to find professional development to meet her needs. She learned early on in her career that she needed to reach out, attend conferences, network and collaborate with others and find her “teacher tribe”. Lisa also reminds us that we need to ask for what we need and to take input and advice from others, like admin, colleagues and even our own students.  She says we need to become a “learned extrovert”, come out of our teaching silos and network with like-minded people in order to learn and grow into the best teachers for our students. Lisa also talks about how much effort she had to put into marketing and building her program, and how balancing work and home life became a priority. She explains how she had to learn and accept the fact she would need to “selectively abandon” some things that were not a priority in order to maintain balance and avoid burnout. Finally, Lisa gives some great advice and suggestions to admin, parents, colleagues, students and everyone else in our school community of how we can offer support to our teachers. It doesn’t have to just happen during Teacher Appreciation Week either! So, listen and take notes in order to take note of the teachers in your life that you love, value and appreciate every day, all year long!