here i go.

While we’re in Morocco, we had to create a Guiding Question to inform our time there. Mine is below. I’m packed. Everything I could possibly get done is done. The rest will wait for me when I return. Special shout out to Erin and Elliot for feeding me this evening. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be on the way to Rabat, Morocco’s capital city, from Paris, France’s capital city. Flight Plan: Dulles to Atlanta | Atlanta to Paris | Paris to Rabat

Guiding Question: How do teachers and students sustain practices of liberation and joy in the process of learning?

Subquestions: 

• What does it mean to have joy and liberation?
• What are practices of joy and liberation that sustain teachers in the profession and students in learning?
• What do these practices look like both in and out of the formal school environment?
• How can schools and school systems sustain the longevity of quality teachers in the profession?
• How can teachers sustain themselves in a profession where many of us burn out?

Data That Informs My Question

National Statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Education:

• 18% of public school teachers are people of color
• the rate of attrition for black teachers is 10%, the highest of any racial group
• the rate of attrition for ELA teachers is 10%, the highest of any subject area
• Teacher turnover is higher in higher poverty schools of color.
• 8% of teachers leave every year = “That’s a couple-hundred-thousand teachers. Less than a third of them are leaving for retirement. If you look at high-performing countries like Finland or Singapore, or go across the border to Ontario, Canada, the attrition rate is usually 3 percent or 4 percent of teachers.” — Linda Darling Hamilton, president and CEO of Learning Policy Institute and founder of Stanford University’s Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

Sources:

• https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/highered/racial-diversity/state-racial-diversity-workforce.pdf
• https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014077.pdf 
• NPR Story on Teacher Turnover
• Teacher Shortages Interactive Map