Teacher Sustainability and Student Success: A First Year Teaching Challenges Self-Study

April 28th, 2021

Teacher Sustainability and Student Success: A First Year Teaching Challenges Self-Study

This reflective self-study on a first-year teachers experience aimed to find information for how to balance teacher sustainability and student success in the classroom. Additionally, it provided the teacher an opportunity to reflect on their past year of teaching and deeply examine what was successful and challenging. This self-study was focused around reflections on three separate unit assessments created by the teacher. The assessments were analyzed using a series of self-designed questions in order to provide the most detailed and informative narrative on teacher and student experiences during the units. The research showed that the teacher’s level of effort and exertion in planning and creating curriculum material had a direct positive impact on the opportunities for student success in its implementation. Additionally, the research showed that students were more engaged and presented higher levels of completion and success with assessments containing more structure and displaying higher academic rigor. Lastly, the study showed that the desired balance of teacher sustainability and student success is fluid and changes over time and experiences. The implications of this research show a need for support and structured development for new teachers from supporting faculty and staff to ensure sustainability, and provide the best opportunities for student success. After completing this study, it is recommended to complete a follow up or longitudinal study examining the changes in experience for the teacher in subsequent school years.

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Keywords: Teacher sustainability, student success, novice teacher, student engagement, teacher burnout, lesson planning, middle-school teaching, reflective feedback

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