Biggest Challenges Faced By A High School Teacher At Pajaro Valley Schools
Elisabeth's greatest challenge as a Supervising teacher is navigating the multifaceted demands of the profession, progressing from mastering classroom management and parent communication to confronting systemic issues like "allocation of resources" and societal problems impacting students. A strong support team is crucial for addressing this "relentless job" where daily challenges range from addiction to social justice concerns.
Classroom Management, School Politics and Parent Communication, Resource Allocation and Equity, Social Justice and Public Awareness, Teamwork and Support
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Elisabeth Rettenwender
Supervising teacher 9-12
Pajaro Valley Unified School District
American College in Paris and Smith College
Smith College BA
Ethnic & Related Studies, Psychology
Education
Education
International Student, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Managing classroom, students, planning lessons, and providing timely feedback are initial challenges.
2. Understanding school politics, parent needs, and effective parent interaction are crucial in the early years.
3. Navigating district-level issues like resource allocation and addressing systemic inequalities impacting students is a significant challenge.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
The challenge for a teacher starts with managing the classroom and students, planning lessons, and giving timely feedback on student work. This kind of takes up the first couple of years of teaching.
Another piece of the first few years of teaching has to do with understanding school politics and parent needs, and how to interact with parents. Once those skills are learned and you kind of master how to deal with that, the next level is dealing with the district.
This includes systemic things that go on, whether it's the allocation of resources and if they are being distributed fairly to all students. Or if certain students are in privileged positions, getting new gyms and better equipment while other schools are left behind.
I think there's also something about being in the public eye. It's a relentless job where you go to school every day and face the public. Every single issue that faces the American public will face you as a public school teacher.
This includes issues of addiction, social justice, discrimination, racism, homophobia, and poverty. Students are impacted by all of these different things, and that's part of the job, and it is relentless.
It's every day that you are dealing with and facing these different types of situations. Having a strong team is really important.
I think the most challenging years for me as a teacher were when I didn't have a good team and didn't feel I had the support I needed from other teachers, administration, and staff to meet those challenges.
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