The Hard Work of Teaching - How Rally can Help

Teaching is an often under-appreciated profession. Across the country, 44% of teachers leave the profession within their first 5 years. Even more specifically, 8% of teachers start over in a completely new profession each year (Why Teachers Quit + Top Signs Quitting Teaching is the Right Move.). This trend is largely due to the unrealistic, ever-changing expectations that are placed on teachers. Many teachers feel that they cannot keep up with the revolving door of new initiatives and heightened expectations. These problems have been exacerbated by the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning alike. Students across the country have yet to return to meeting grade level benchmarks that were consistent before the onset of the pandemic. Additionally, many teachers have witnessed an increase in dysregulated and unsafe behavior in the classroom. While these challenges may not be the students’ faults, teachers report feeling unsupported by their administrators in meeting their students where they are. 

Teachers are also victims of high levels of stress and burnout. Many teachers who either leave the profession (or consider it) do so because their mental and/or physical health has been severely impacted by the profession. Teachers work hard to create meaningful experiences for all of their students, every single day. They must balance creatively engaging their students, problem solving through challenging moments, and expanding classroom management skill sets exponentially. Regardless of their success in meeting their students’ needs and creating meaningful learning opportunities, teachers are still undervalued and overlooked. The role of a teacher has become increasingly complex. They are now expected to teach academic content and be both guides and mentors as students develop socially, emotionally, and intellectually. In addition to mastering and delivering subject area content, teachers must also intervene where necessary to “inspire a love of learning” (Redefining the Role of the Teacher: It's a Multifaceted Profession | Edutopia). 

While policy may be slow to change, the world of technology presents many opportunities to support the work teachers do in the classroom. Rally Reader offers a positive solution for building classroom community through the power of literature. When students read to our AI-powered coach, they receive immediate feedback on their accuracy and persistence. Their reading is recorded and instantly shared back to their teacher. Educators can listen to their reading session, review data points, and more simply, connect with their students about what they read. Students can lean on characters to help them feel less alone, and teachers can lean into these stories to build relationships with their students. Rally is also hugely helpful for teachers who feel that their workload is pulling them in too many directions at once. Students are able to work independently while still receiving a high level of monitoring and support in their reading. This allows teachers to focus their energy where it is most immediately needed. Teaching is difficult work, Rally eases some of the workload AND helps build connections with students.

• Copied to clipboard!