Tenille Edwards

I attribute my success to hard work and dedication. Nothing in life - I mean, you have some people where things are given to them, but majority of the people in this world, nothing is given. Nothing is given to you, you earn it. And the only way you earn it is by going out and putting your best foot forward. And even when challenges arise and things get tough, you still have to learn how to push through, pray through it, and stick it out until the end. I'm the type of person who believes in doing my very best in anything. Sometimes I find myself trying to be a perfectionist, and that's something that I carry not only in my work life, but also in my regular life. Anything that I'm tasked with, or anything that's given to me, do your very best. Give it your all, especially when your name is attached to it. I'm just that type of person where if my name is attached to it, I'm gonna do the very best that I can and give it all that I got.

The best career advice I've ever received was learning how to balance work and life. I remember my first year of teaching, I would stay up till 1 and 2 in the morning, wake up at 6 in the morning, start the day all over again. I'd stay at work till 7, 8, 9, you know, go home, eat, do some more work, and do it all over again. I'll never forget, at the end of the year, I had an assistant principal, she told me, she was like, I want you to go home over the weekend, and don't do anything. Don't open up your Chromebook, don't do any work, I need you to relax. I've learned over the last few years the importance of balancing, and it's been difficult. However, now that I'm newly married, I'm finding it more important to balance my work life from my personal life. So I've made it my mission, you know, this year, and even last year, I tried to do a little bit better. Every year, I try to get a little bit better with, okay, you're done for the day, whatever you didn't get done today, just get it done tomorrow. It'll still be there. The work as a teacher, your job is never really done. You just have to learn how to set boundaries for yourself.

My advice would be to take it day by day and don't overthink it. I recently told someone that a week ago, a young lady who is, this was, like, her first year teaching middle school, and she's still working on her certification. I told her, I say, hey, don't overthink it. Take it day by day. When you start to overthink, especially in education, when you start to overthink, that's when you overcomplicate, and you put more stress on yourself, and this is a stressful field already. So, in my opinion, just slow down. Make it simple. Simple goals goes a long way. And she was like, you're right, I do overthink. And I'm like, I can tell. I can tell you overthink. Don't do that, you'll mess yourself up. The second biggest thing is classroom management. That's another thing, because if you have strong classroom management, the teaching will come. It'll come easy if you're able to manage the kids.

I think the biggest challenge would be the overuse of technology. You know, the school that I'm at, each student has their own personal Chromebook, and so you find that the students are so invested in their Chromebooks 24-7, all day, every day. They want to be on their Chromebooks, they want to play games, they want to watch YouTube videos. So this year, I actually made it my mission, I'm like, okay, we're gonna go back old school. We're going to limit, at least in my classroom, we're gonna limit how much we're on these Chromebooks, and we're going to get back to writing on paper, using a pencil. And in this day and time, you have so many kids that really don't know how to write good. I have a lot of 8th graders, unfortunately, who write as if they are in first grade, second grade, and that's because technology has totally taken over our students. You know, in elementary, they know how to use iPads better than the adults. That takes away from learning the fundamental foundation of writing, you know, how to properly write. So I think that's the biggest issue that we have, the overuse of technology. As far as opportunities, yes, there are opportunities. I just love being in the classroom. I'd much rather come in, close my door, work with my 150 students every day, and be happy in that. I had opportunities to, you know, become a reading specialist. Before I left Aldine, I went through what they called a specialist pipeline, and so I was being set up to get a specialist role, which would be the next step up, but that's just not what I want to do.

The values most important to me are doing my very best in anything and giving it my all. I believe in excellence and sometimes I find myself trying to be a perfectionist. That's something that I carry not only in my work life, but also in my regular life. Anything that I'm tasked with, or anything that's given to me, do your very best. Give it your all, especially when your name is attached to it. I'm just that type of person where if my name is attached to it, I'm gonna do the very best that I can and give it all that I got. I also value balance - learning how to balance work and life has become increasingly important to me, especially now that I'm newly married. I've learned to set boundaries for myself because as a teacher, your job is never really done.