Chalkboard Change with Emily

What happens when a teacher steps outside her comfort zone to grow in a completely new environment? Emily, a third-year social sciences teacher, shares her journey transitioning from a Catholic school to a diverse, lower socioeconomic school. Unlike many who switch roles due to burnout, Emily made a deliberate choice to explore new approaches early in her career—a move that brought both challenge and growth. 

Her first week was filled with self-doubt—"Am I capable enough of doing this?"—but she quickly discovered that her own vulnerability helped her connect with students. She once assumed teachers were flawlessly organised, only to find most are simply doing their best each day. This realisation shaped her classroom culture, where authenticity reigns. When students share struggles, Emily meets them with honesty, saying, “I know that because I’m trying to make friends right now as well.” 

Looking forward, Emily is exploring the possibility of a master’s in educational leadership, but her heart remains firmly in the classroom, where she continues to grow alongside her students. Her joy comes from watching students grow passionate about social issues and become young change-makers. Her advice to aspiring teachers? “Be ready for chaos, take it in your stride, and don’t worry so much about the outcome.” 

Hosted by Debbie Ross
Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @nurturingeducators

For more information, guest recommendations, and sponsorship opportunities 
or to chat, please email: nurturingeducators@gmail.com or visit  www.nurturingeducators.co.nz

Thanks for listening! 

Transcript

Meet Emily: Transitioning Between Schools

Debbie 0:15

Welcome to Nuturing Educators , the podcast that shares inspiring and insightful conversations with passionate teachers dedicated to education and wellbeing . I'm your host , Debbie Ross , and each episode we will explore the personal stories , challenges and successes of educators from all walks of life . You'll hear practical tips and strategies to help them thrive both in the classroom and beyond . To help her thrive both in the classroom and beyond .

Debbie 0:49

Hi everyone . Today's guest is the incredible Emily , an exceptionally hard-working teacher who always goes above and beyond for her students . Not only does she dedicate countless hours to her classroom , but she also volunteers her time helping with lots of extracurricular activities . Emily is known for being firm but fair , earning the respect of her students while also being a lot of fun to be around . In this episode , we'll look into her recent transition to a new school , what she's loved about it and what she's found challenging . You're in for a fun , honest and inspiring conversation .

Debbie 1:26

Hello and welcome , Emily . How are you today ?

Emily 1:31

I'm good , thank you , and yourself ?

Debbie 1:33

Very good , thank you . Just before we get started , would you just like to share a little bit about yourself ?

Emily 1:39

Yeah , sure . So I am in my third year of teaching . I've just recently moved to a new school at the start of this year and I have a background in history and I teach in the social sciences departments .

Debbie 1:54

Awesome , so you've just started at a new school , right ?

Emily 1:58

I have .

Debbie 1:59

What made you decide to move schools ?

Emily 2:02

I think there was quite a wide range of reasons . Most teachers , I feel like , they leave their jobs when they're quite frustrated or they're burnt out , but that for me , wasn't necessarily the case . I think when you're a young teacher , it's really valuable to experience different school environments and understand , like what are the different approaches to leadership and to learning and other just teaching philosophies , and so I thought it would be really important for me to be able to expand that while I'm young .

Debbie 2:27

I get that . That's good .

Emily 2:28

So my previous kura was a Decile 10 Catholic girls' school and it had a predominantly Pākehā population . So , in contrast , now I've gone to the complete end of it and I'm serving a community with a lower socioeconomic background with a really diverse population . Our biggest group is Pacifica learners and the shift's been a really big challenge . But it's been a really good challenge and I'm feeling really happy in my decision .

Debbie 2:55

Oh , good on you . So how was that transition ? What do you think's been rewarding about moving across to another school ?

Emily 3:04

I think it's definitely had its challenges , but I think every change does have its challenges . I grew up at a school very similar to my old school , so for me that was a very comfortable space and it was something that I was used to .

Emily 3:20

So for me , I found that the biggest challenge was just change within itself .

Emily 3:27

It just wasn't something I was new with and I had to step out of my comfort zone a little bit , figure out what I was going to do to adapt to a new environment , what I was going to take from my old school and bring to my new school , and what I was going to leave behind , based on my learners .

Emily 3:43

But I've

Cultural Differences and Adaptation

Emily 3:44

actually found that it helped me develop my flexibility and my confidence . A lot of the rewarding things that have come from this is my relationship building . I've had there's a strong emphasis at my school about connecting with learners and having that positive relationships that they actually buy in to what you're trying to teach them . Along with that as well , they've challenged my perspectives and my way of teaching , which has probably been the most rewarding part , and it's quite powerful that shift from just delivering content to creating spaces where children are more seen and they feel more valued and there's been a real spirit of autonomy in a professional space and still having lots of community . It definitely was a challenge at the beginning , but I feel like with every week that passes it's getting easier to kind of

Debbie 4:33

As you kind of find your groove

Emily 4:35

Kind of getting my steps about the first week was definitely I had that bit of self-doubt .

Emily 4:39

I was like , am I capable enough of doing this ? And now I'm like , yeah , I am capable , I'm just a learner .

Debbie 4:47

Of course you are . Yeah , that's awesome . How does the culture at your new school compare to the previous one ?

Emily 4:55

I think the culture at my new school is very much about collective identities , so we see ourselves as one and we all can bring different cultures and backgrounds and perspectives , but together as a team we're stronger , and that goes from teachers as a whole , students as a whole and then the whole school together , which I really am enjoying . I think both cultures have a lot of value on student well-being being the most important thing , which I've really appreciated . Both schools are very focused on supporting students first and then going from there to expand their learning . Something that is sort of different but sort of not is my last school was a religious school , and so religion is not at the forefront of that culture , but at the same time , many of our learners do come from quite strong religious background . So it's still there . It's just taken a bit more of a back seat , and that's been different for me . On my first week I actually started prayers with my film class because I was just so used to that being a part of

Debbie 6:09

your daily routine

Emily 6:10

My daily routine and they all .

Debbie 6:12

How did they like it ?

Emily 6:13

Um , a couple of them looked at me really confused . Some kids took part in it and said that they enjoyed it and I was like , okay , that's good , um , but yeah , half of them just thought I was a bit strange , a bit random .

Debbie 6:27

It's a nice way to start the day , though . I mean, get grounded before you get into the day

Emily 6:32

And now , instead , sometimes in the morning , we'll do meditation . As a class , so it's still got that like idea of like peacefulness .

Debbie 6:39

Yeah, good way to start . So , now that you've been a term in a bit in your new school , what would be some advice that you would give to teachers considering moving schools

Advice for Teachers Changing Schools

Debbie 6:52

?

Emily 6:53

I think the biggest thing for me would be being prepared to feel like a beginner . Um , the first week , you know , like I was saying where I , can I even do this ? I was even thinking , can I even be a teacher ? Like , am I even equipped enough for this ? And I think that's okay , to feel like that , and it's something that you just kind of have to take with you and take it in your stride and go . Okay , this isn't my comfort zone , but it's okay to be out of there . So I would give yourself grace .

Emily 7:21

Focus on relationships and I think , comparing to my first year of teaching , I don't know if I necessarily put relationships at the forefront because I was so consumed by ideas around curriculum and standards that I was pushing for that and borderline almost teaching for assessment than assessing for learning . A big thing that I did that I found really valuable is I did a lot of homework before I went , so like not only did I take time to go to the schools and have a look around , you know , I looked at all the error reports , I figured out what the style was . I saw that they do PB4L , which wasn't familiar for me .

Emily 8:01

So I went to the library and I got my pb4l books and was just treating it like I was a student again yeah and I had an upcoming internal and how was I going to prepare for that exam ?

Emily 8:11

And just kind of staying open as well . I was very transparent with the kids . I was like this is new for me , I'm at a new school . If something's not right , let me know . And a couple times there was like things like . Oh no , miss , you've got this on today or you've got this . And they actually really bought into helping me settle my feet . So just kind of being open , being prepared and giving yourself grace is probably , I think , my key steps .

Debbie 8:38

yeah , no , that's great

Debbie 8:39

I think that's valuable feedback for others wanting to do the similar thing , and I think it's also quite good with regards to students, puts you in their place . If they're starting at a new school , you totally know how they feel , because it is a lot to get out of your comfort zone and make new friends and all of that . But makes you stronger , doesn't it ?

Emily 8:59

Yeah and I think it's really cool when kids were coming to me at the start of the year and I had a year nine talking to me about how they were struggling to make friends and I was like , yeah , well , it's hard moving to a new place and making friends and not knowing anyone . And I know that because I'm trying to make friends right now as well . Um , so we're all on that learning curve together and she's coming in and she's like I've made a friend and I go me too and so we're all just like on this journey together and I think you know , like you said , it helps also .

Emily 9:29

You understand them better if they're having a tough day and they're feeling overwhelmed by a new school .

Emily 9:34

Well , so am I so I can , I can rock

Debbie 9:36

You can relate . Yeah , definitely . Looking at some of your teacher experiences , what do you think's one thing that you've learned

Lessons Learned and Teaching Surprises

Debbie 9:46

? That's really surprised you .

Emily 9:49

I think one thing I thought was looking at my teachers in school .

Emily 9:54

I always thought they were so prepared . I thought they were so onto it and type a and put together and these like perfect specimens , and that's why they were here and I kind of always was like , oh well , I like teaching , but I I'm just not type a and I'm not organized and a bit all over the place . And I kind of realized that that's actually what the reality of a lot of teachers are like . A a lot of us are just trying to get through the day . We're showing up , trying to get our printing ready , you know , trying to get your cup of tea and make sure you go to the bathroom before the day starts , and all those little things are actually just a part of the journey and that's actually the reality of most teachers and so A lot of it is just on the fly , faking it till you make it and trusting in the knowledge that you have and the prep that you've done . It's a big thing and in following that when things go wrong , there's no harm in reflection and trying again .

Debbie 10:51

Exactly .

Emily 10:52

Like , if a lesson doesn't go wrong , you can just try it again . And I didn't think when I was in teacher's col or something like that . I would have thought once you've done it , you've done it and you move on , and if you mess it up , then sucks , you missed that gap , but I'll just come in the next day and go hey , I don't think I covered that very well , so we're going to keep going through this, this here is the idea .

Debbie 11:14

So would you like to share with us one of your highlights in your teacher journey so far ?

Emily 11:26

Oh one in your teacher journey so far . Oh , one of my highlights . I think every day for me is a highlight , but I think something that I'm really proud of myself for uh , recently was completing my PCT folder

Debbie 11:33

So that it's a big job .

Emily 11:35

It's a big job and it's not necessarily hard to complete because it is that process of reflecting and recording , but it just . It can be tedious at times to fill it out and it kind of was quite unmotivating and I kind of had to psych myself up and I kept saying I'm going to add to it every week and I wouldn't necessarily add to it every week , sometimes it was like bi-termly . So I think being able to finish that , having my former principal observe and sign it off

Debbie 12:02

Amazing congratulations .

Emily 12:04

Thank you so good such a weight off my shoulders to be like , yes , done , you've gone there , you've done it yeah , and it kind of just was like okay , I'm ready to take on the world now , I can go where I want , I can do what I need , I can travel and take that teaching with me now if I like . And it was just such a reward to feel like the training wheels were off on saying that I am not necessarily in love with the full time table that I've moved up to , I found that a little bit more time consuming um , but that's just part of teaching .

Debbie 12:38

Yeah , part of teaching . Do you have any funny or memorable moments from your classroom teaching ?

Emily 12:46

oh , I think a lot of them are really funny . Kids in themselves just are funny people . So most days I have a laugh at something . One that I've really enjoyed lately was with a junior class and we were looking at migration . So , to introduce the word to them , I had them brainstorm , draw pictures , create kind of a mind map of what they thought migration might mean .

Emily 13:09

And I have one student who's a little bit loud and he was very insistent that he knew the answer and he's like miss , miss , you have to make sure you call on me when we go to the board . And I was like , okay , you know what , you can have this moment for sure . So he puts his hand up and he's always standing up out of his seat waiting for me to call on him . So I call on them and they said 'when your head hurts' . So he was thinking of a migraine , not migration . And he was so confident and proud of himself and it was just so sweet and I couldn't help but laugh when I got you know into the staff room later that day .

Debbie 13:45

Funny how English can be like that , though with words so easy to get confused as to what people were saying or the meaning

Emily 13:54

With your background in Esol and what that can look like , and it's so

Emily 14:00

I could look to the words and I was like I can completely see where you got that

Debbie 14:04

Yeah , give them points for trying , that's for sure

Emily 14:07

Absolutely .

Debbie 14:09

What's one lesson your students have taught you over the years

Professional Growth and Future Aspirations

Emily 14:13

How do you use instagram .

Emily 14:14

Nah , I'm joking . Um , they probably have just taught me about not giving up and resilience . I can be quite someone who gets a bit stressed out if something's not perfect and I'm like , oh , I actually just can't do it . Then and in that same breath , then I would encourage kids to try and try again . And or being able to see kids who are barely able to string a sentence together on a page at the start of the year be able to turn out beautiful paragraphs following a literacy structure by the end of the year is all credit to their resilience and their ability to try and try again . So I think that has really inspired me in my life . When something goes wrong , especially in teaching , to be like , like okay , how am I going to try this again ? What angle can I look at with this ? And even in things where I can see them at camp and they're really scared to try something new and they give it a go anyways . It makes me think of times where I'm embarrassed or nervous to try something new .

Emily 15:21

I've recently started playing netball . I was like I don't know how to play netball , I don't know what to do and that's going to be so embarrassing running around the field .

Debbie 15:30

You're giving it a go .

Emily 15:31

You're giving it a go . If the kids can , then why can't I ?

Debbie 15:34

I like that . Looking ahead . How do you see your role as a teacher evolving over the next few years ?

Emily 15:45

This is a big question because I am so young into my teaching career I still feel like .

Debbie 15:48

You have got lots of time .

Emily 15:49

I've got lots of time to figure it out and I'm still not really 100% sure where my path is going to take me um

Debbie 15:57

Which is kind of exciting .

Emily 15:58

It's so exciting .

Debbie 15:59

You can go anywhere .

Emily 16:00

If you'd asked me three years ago , I probably would have pulled out a different answer than I am today , like I feel like it's . I'm just kind of figuring out and I'm in that exciting part of who knows where the road's going to take me . What I am focusing on right now is getting into that , uh , full-time table load , figuring out my teaching craft , practicing that . But I am considering a master's in educational leadership as my next step

Debbie 16:27

Oh , that's exciting .

Emily 16:28

It is , um , I have to teach . I believe it's for four , maybe five years before you can apply for it . So I've still got a lot while to go on the road . So I'm going to dedicate that time to just improving my craft , getting to work on things , reflecting on them and developing that , and I think teaching is always a big like the priority for me . But I truly believe , like , in the power of strong leadership to change schools , and so I want to be a part of those bigger conversations about , like , student success and equity and school culture how I can contribute to that bigger picture .

Debbie 17:04

Very exciting , Emily . And what keeps you passionate about teaching , even during the challenging times ?

Emily 17:13

I think for me it comes down to the subject I teach . Social sciences and history can be hard topics at times and we can have hard conversations , but with that there's really cool opportunities to promote hope , positivity and peace , and so I like having those conversations with them where we can talk about times where things have gone wrong . We can talk about how things happen and what outcomes happen when someone does an action . Especially right now , with my year 12s , we're looking at the holocaust and we're understanding how the impacts of the holocaust in the 1940s still rings truth today in 2025 and how there still are repercussions for those actions and the conversations we can have and the questions they ask for me .

Emily 18:11

What is keeping me passionate ? Seeing young people want to become the next generation of change makers is really inspiring . I just think it's so cool when you see them get so heated and worked up about something like yeah go for it , fight for your passion . That's good I love it .

Debbie 18:32

So just maybe to round things off , if you were to give a bit of advice to someone who's potentially thinking about becoming a teacher , seeing you've just gotten through all your training , what would you tell them ?

What Makes Teaching Worthwhile

Emily 18:48

I would tell them that they should be ready for chaos , to take it in this stride , to be willing to take on feedback . Um , just go for it , like , just don't think too much about it . I think you should just do it and not worry so much about the outcome . I mean , New Zealand is a place that is desperate for teachers right now and there are so many opportunities within that . So , taking on that and seeing where you can come from , and even if you don't teach forever , teaching opens so many doors and there's so many opportunities within it and so many skills and leadership qualities that come from teaching , that can be applied into so many different spheres of life .

Debbie 19:38

Well, thank- you so much for taking the time to come in and have a chat today .

Emily 19:42

Thank you so much for having me .

Debbie 19:43

Yeah , it's been great and all the best in your new school .

Debbie 19:48

I hope it goes really well for you .

Emily 19:49 Debbie 19:53

Thank you so much for listening . If you enjoyed today's episode , don't forget to hit the subscribe button , leave a review and share it with your fellow educators . Let's keep these important conversations going . For more information , follow us at nurturing educators on facebook and instagram . Until next time , take care .