\n<\/p>\n
As Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver drove to her teaching job at Winooski High School in the small refugee resettlement city outside of Burlington, Vt., on Jan. 12, she listened to news related to the shooting death of Minnesota resident Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent days earlier. And she wondered how her friend Tracy Byrd and his students were faring.<\/p>\n
Byrd, like MacLeod-Bluver, is a member of the 2025 State Teachers of the Year cohort, sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Also like MacLeod-Bluver, he\u2019s a high school English teacher. And, despite living about 1,200 miles from one another, they both know what it\u2019s like to worry about students who are afraid to come to school. Byrd teaches at Minneapolis\u2019 Washburn High School, a mile-and-a-half from where Good was killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was on my mind,\u201d said MacLeod-Bluver.<\/p>\n
That morning, MacLeod-Bluver sent Byrd a text to let him know she was thinking about him and his students. She then began her American literature class the way she always does\u2014by reading a poem. That day, she chose Amanda Gorman\u2019s poem, \u201cFor Renee Good.\u201d <\/p>\n
She also told her class about her friend, Byrd, and what his students were going through; his district had started offering online learning options, as many immigrant students and their families feared coming to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really moved kids,\u201d said MacLeod-Bluver. \u201cThese concerns are not unfamiliar to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 9% of Winooski district\u2019s students are Somali. The district had experienced an onslaught of hateful attacks in December after it displayed a Somali flag on one of its buildings as a show of solidarity for community members, Winooski Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria told Education Week. So when MacLeod-Bluver suggested to students that they participate in a video voicing their support for Byrd and his students, they immediately agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them just wanted to say a quick word about lending their support and solidarity to Tracy\u2019s students,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo kid, no student, should be going through this,\u201d one student said. Another said, \u201cJust letting you know that you\u2019ve got our support.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Byrd initially watched the video alone, admitting that it brought him to tears. He then shared it with his students and his principal; it eventually aired on the district\u2019s YouTube channel. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how good people are,\u201d Byrd said, of the gesture. \u201cPeople are cheering for you all of the time, and sometimes you don\u2019t even know it, but they\u2019re cheering for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s normal for teachers to worry about their students, even more so in challenging times. And with little opportunity during the school day to connect with colleagues, teachers often worry alone. This can lead to or exacerbate feelings of loneliness, isolation, and burnout. <\/p>\n
In recent years, particularly post-pandemic, experts have highlighted the urgent need for students to build healthy relationships. Less public attention, however, has been paid to teachers\u2019 loneliness.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers still feel alone. We are regulating very dysregulated children and we\u2019re dysregulated ourselves. We\u2019ve got to understand and have real conversations about what is happening,\u201d Kate Collins, a 1st grade teacher at Bluff Park Elementary in Hoover, Ala., and one of the finalists for the 2026 National Teacher of the Year award, told Education Week.<\/p>\n
Finding time to have these conversations can be challenging. Teaching multiple classes a day, planning, grading, and taking on other work tasks typically leave little time for teachers to check in with one another\u2014both during routine times and when crisis hits, putting student well-being is at stake. <\/p>\n
But carving out the time is worthwhile. Lacking a strong peer network can make teachers more likely to want to quit their jobs, according to a 2023 Australian study that surveyed 426 teachers. Conversely, teachers who participated in the study cited positive relationships with colleagues as a key factor for wanting to stay. <\/p>\n
Similarly, strong relationships with other teachers and supportive school leaders proved among the biggest contributors to educators\u2019 positive well-being and mental health in the 2023 State of the American Teacher Survey by the RAND Corp.<\/p>\n
While collaboration among teachers at the same school can be valuable, some teachers find meaning in connecting with like-minded peers across the country. <\/p>\n
For example, in a recent EdWeek opinion piece, New York City high school math teachers Bobson Wong and Larisa Bukalov shared how they\u2019ve avoided burnout by connecting with communities of educators\u2014outside of their school walls. <\/p>\n
They\u2019ve found support through a variety of sources, from local teacher organizations to social media platforms, which gives them access to teachers around the globe. Intentionally seeking out other educators has made them better teachers, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, connecting with other educators has made us less isolated and more energized, which in turn has kept us in the profession,\u201d Wong and Bukalov wrote. <\/p>\n
Byrd, the Minnesota teacher, maintains that he and other members of the 2025 state teacher of the year cohort, who became close through a yearlong professional development experience, will always remain tight. \u201cWe\u2019re forever the TOY class of 2025,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are connected through that.\u201d <\/p>\n
The cohort is invited to participate in regularly scheduled Zoom meetings, where members might go from discussing the grind of the second semester to sharing photos of new babies. <\/p>\n
Then, of course, there are impromptu messages of support like the one that MacLeod-Bluver sent Byrd in the wake of Good\u2019s killing in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo often, for me, it\u2019s small conversations with like-minded teachers that push my [teaching] practice,\u201d said MacLeod-Bluver. \u201cThat is really the best type of professional learning and one of the coolest things, especially in moments like this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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