Practicing What We Teach: A Sense of Belonging with Fellow Educators

by TWIG Contributor Brianna Gibson

My name is Brianna Gibson, and I’m in my fourth year as an Idaho public school educator. Although I’m still in the early stages of my career, I know the Idaho public education system a little too well. Both of my parents are teachers who inspired my love of learning yet were honest about the struggles of public education in our state. When my older sister and I both decided we wanted to become teachers, my father lovingly asked us, “Are you sure?” I thought I knew what I was getting myself into as a teacher: the good, the bad, the overworked, the underpaid, all of it. What no one could have predicted, though, is that a global pandemic would emerge in the middle of only my second year teaching, turning an already difficult career into one of even more pressure, inconsistency, and isolation. And like so many educators across the state—across the nation—I have spent these years wondering if I really was sure this career was meant for me.

Then, I was invited to TWIG.

See, teaching can already be an isolating experience. Throw in at-home learning, hybrid schedules, and quarantine periods, and it’s easy to feel like the walls of your classroom are closing in around you. Even more so, teachers can be really, really negative (myself included). It’s easy to focus on the students who won’t listen, the parents who question your every move, the grading that’s never finished. They say misery loves company; well, a miserable teacher loves the teacher’s lounge. But logging on to a meeting with the Teaching Writers Inquiry Group is like a breath of fresh air.

Teachers rarely get to attend anything without preparing materials beforehand, but TWIG allows me to log on without a lesson plan or learning target. Teachers are often working overtime, but TWIG consistently respects my time by beginning on the hour and ending within those 60 minutes. Teachers often go to each other to break down the most difficult parts of their day, but TWIG celebrates the strategies and ways of thinking that enrich our classrooms, and our lives. So, when I was asked to write about something meaningful I’ve learned in my time attending TWIG, the biggest lesson I could share is the immense difference it makes to find a community of teachers resolving to grow personally, professionally, academically, and collectively despite every reason not to.

One of my fundamental beliefs as a teacher is that everyone wants to belong. They want their voices heard, they want their perspectives validated, they want a community. Teachers work endlessly to make sure students can belong in their classrooms, but all too often we are isolated—or we isolate ourselves—from the spaces where we too can achieve a sense of support and belonging. For all the strategies, discussions, and free resources I’ve gained from my meetings with TWIG, I’m most grateful for the community I’m joining and the feeling that I belong.