New academic year, new beginning: What a teacher educator does for renewal

Abstract

Teacher attrition and retention are real concerns facing K-12 education in the US. This article briefly explains why renewal matters for fostering teacher resilience, which is instrumental for thriving in the profession. It also identifies some practices that the author, a teacher educator, has adopted in order to start fresh with new pre-service teachers. These practices and habits are divided into three categories: professional, emotional, and social. Some of these practices include sharing her values at the beginning of an academic year and engaging in some emotional awareness activities. At the end the author stresses the importance of teacher educators talking to their pre-service teachers about renewal and supporting pre-service teachers in finding how they seek new beginnings not only at the start of an academic year but throughout their time teaching.

Keywords

• resilience
• relationships
• renewal