Recognizing the Changes in Education

century. The endless cycle of change in education places considerable stress on classroom teachers’ everyday lives. The sources of change are numerous and diverse in content, and the changes seem to come in all forms and from all directions. They are often curricular, cultural, administrative, parental, and technological—just to name a few! These changes affect every facet of our profession: the way we teach our classes, the way we communicate with parents and the broader public, the way we approach professional development and interact with colleagues and administrators, and so on. Unlike those who have professions that carry great stability and continuity of policy and expectation, teachers work in a professional space of perpetual disorientation. About the only constant is change itself—which is why this book will foster teachers’ resilience and morale in the face of this change.

In the book, we’ll explore how teachers can recognize and adapt to the changes that characterize the world of education, strengthen the relationships they’ve built within it, and actually thrive in their roles. Later in the introduction, I’ll also explain how the book’s unique structure can help readers home in on the concerns that are most relevant to them. This way, readers can—in a manner that suits how they learn and where they are in their careers—ensure that the classroom remains the chief place for transformative learning experiences and that they find hope and purpose at the center of it all.

Unlike my school’s fire-alarm problem, which had a simple, direct solution, meeting our constantly changing job requirements as 21st century educators is more complicated and involved, and it will require us to first understand and acknowledge how circumstances for teachers have changed. Indeed, the seed of this text began with an article I wrote for the educational website the Educator’s Room; I titled it “10 Things Teachers DID NOT Have to Deal With 10 Years Ago” (Adams, 2018). As a writer, I dreamed of publishing content that goes viral, and I got my wish. The article exploded. Within a month, it had been viewed 114,000 times and shared almost 25,000 times. It was picked up and republished by the Washington Post’s popular education page Answer Sheet (Strauss, 2018). Clearly, the claim that the hurdles of educational success are getting higher struck a nerve in the corps of teachers.

Teachers who are in the middle of their careers know that the job is constantly changing and getting more difficult. Some perennial problems (poverty, lack of parental support, and threats to school safety) are getting worse, while some problems (pervasive student anxiety, strains associated with high-stakes testing, and the distraction of students’ ubiquitous cell-phone usage) have arisen with 21st century developments.