When one instructor posted an absurd yearbook picture on her Instagram, it stopped my scroll—and clearly, I wasn’t the one one. Her submit has acquired numerous consideration, hanging a chord with educators.
Right here’s what she wrote: “Annually, my aim is straightforward: educate the teachings, make them snicker, and take one utterly absurd yearbook picture that nobody will ever overlook, as a result of pleasure issues. Years later, when my college students return as school children, they don’t speak about grades or initiatives, they speak about my foolish yearbook picture. I would like my college students to know that faculty could be stuffed with laughter, recollections, and even a little bit of chaos.”
This message resonated deeply with me, and I wished to study extra in regards to the instructor behind the picture. Meet Jere Chang, a gifted-education instructor whose Instagram and all of her social media is filled with the identical vitality and coronary heart that’s successful over hundreds. Right here’s my Q&A together with her.
The place do you educate and the way lengthy have you ever been a instructor?
I educate gifted training at Drew Constitution Faculty in Atlanta, Georgia, and I’ve been within the classroom for over 20 years. I’ve taught the whole lot from kindergarten via school, together with ESOL, normal training, and presently gifted training in 1st via third grades.
When did you begin taking humorous yearbook photographs? What number of do you’ve now?
I began about 10 years in the past once I realized lecturers may both dread image day or personal it. It started as a joke, however now it’s custom.
Do you’ve a favourite picture that you just’ve taken?
My favourite one is my first one with my glasses, wild hair, huge smile, and pink plaid shirt. It’s the one that the majority former college students rave about.
Do you’ve a particular reminiscence of a pupil who got here as much as you years later and shared how they remembered your picture?
Sure! I had a former pupil come again from school and say, “Ms. Chang, I nonetheless present individuals your yearbook footage once they ask who my favourite instructor was.” That meant the world to me. The picture might have been humorous, however what they actually remembered was how our classroom felt.
What’s your “why” for educating?
I educate as a result of I do know what it’s prefer to hate college, and I would like my college students to really feel the other. I would like them to snicker, really feel seen, and imagine they belong precisely as they’re.
How do you hope your college students will keep in mind you years from now?
I hope they keep in mind me because the instructor who made studying enjoyable, believed in them fiercely, and reminded them that pleasure and curiosity go hand in hand.
It’s a tricky time proper now to be a instructor. Do you’ve any phrases of knowledge or assist to supply different lecturers?
Bear in mind to maintain your self. You may’t pour from an empty cup, however you may refill it with laughter, neighborhood, and style for your self. We’re shaping lives, not simply knowledge objectives.
What’s a tip you need to preserve the enjoyment in educating?
Construct pleasure into your routine. Play a fast recreation, have fun random holidays, or begin class with a foolish query. The extra pleasure you create deliberately, the extra it naturally grows. Don’t let veteran lecturers make your new and recent concepts really feel invalid. Deliver all the brand new vitality as we go the torch to you. Children lately deserve one of the best of us, so don’t let others and/or knowledge design your journey.
What else ought to we find out about you?
Exterior of faculty, I’m a nationwide speaker and digital content material creator with over 4 million followers, sharing tales that remember lecturers and actual lecture rooms. I simply completed my first ebook, and it’s popping out Could 2026. It’s a two-part ebook that traces my journey from a struggling pupil to thriving educator, then affords sensible methods and heartfelt tales to assist lecturers rediscover pleasure and objective within the classroom. I dwell in Atlanta, Georgia, with my spouse and our two sons.
