I Want to Believe

Rachel Thune Real
3 min readJun 29, 2021

Trying to prevent burnout and reinvigorate your teaching practice? Then find the “believers.”

Photo by Federico Beccari on Unsplash.

I was recently reintroduced to my new principal during the second week of summer school.

I’d been sitting at my desk entering grades when Mike popped his head into the doorway. “Hi there!” he declared. “Is this an okay time to come in?”

After inviting him to sit down and exchanging a few pleasantries, I saw Mike’s eyes drift to the whiteboard, where I’d written my name as a reference for my new students.

“Oh, you’re Rachel Thune!” he exclaimed. “I heard you’re one of the believers around here.”

“Believers,” I’d infer from our subsequent conversations, are educators who, simply put, demonstrate passion and grit. Believers march onto campus with palpable enthusiasm for learning — especially learning that happens with and alongside their students. Believers ask questions about their practice and take the time to find solutions that align with the academic and social-emotional needs of their learners. Believers show resilience in the face of adversity and model a growth mindset so that their students know that they, too, can and should keep pushing themselves to do better.

But to me, one of the greatest attributes of believers involves their willingness to reflect on their successes and failures with colleagues. Believers know that they are wiser — and stronger — together, and they deliberately and regularly connect with each other to exchange insights, strategies, and resources that will benefit their own students as well as students beyond the walls of their classrooms. Believers support each other throughout the highs and lows of their careers by reinforcing their shared vision to co-construct meaning with their students, which will ultimately enable their learners to lead more purposeful, fulfilling lives.

After a year and a half of teaching during the pandemic, which left me feeling physically and mentally depleted, I was more than ready to seek out, learn from, and be inspired by the “believers” around me. Although I had already discovered many of them at my own school, I realized that I didn’t have to limit my “believer” circle to the boundaries of our campus; in fact, some of the most meaningful connections can take place virtually in forums like Medium, Twitter, and Instagram, where I’ve been able to learn with and from teachers across the globe.

Yes, many of the professional challenges I encountered during the pandemic were disheartening, and yes, I’m still recovering from the exhaustion that accompanied the numerous and unpredictable adjustments I had to make to my instruction throughout the year. At the same time, however, choosing to surround myself with fellow “believers” has given me new life going into the 2021–2022 school year — not to mention optimism about my potential as a teacher and my students’ potential as human beings.

To the believers still reeling in the aftermath of the pandemic, I see you, I hear you, and I’m ready to learn with you. Let’s do this.

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Rachel Thune Real

Mrs. Thune (pronounced “tune”). High school English teacher and doctoral student.