LearnStorm Growth Mindset: Teacher leader on his career journey

I'm Paul Clifton. I'm 30 years old. I am a sixth-grade teacher leader, and my salary is about $60,000. I'm a new teacher leader, and so I get to coach other teachers, fellow math teachers, and work on a team. I get to observe teachers teach, co-teach with them, and get into other classrooms instead of just working in my own.

Times in McLone, we collaborate so much, and it's a great opportunity to be a part of that. I'm an ELA teacher, so that means that in the classroom, I use Spanish and English to teach. A lot of times I'll translanguage, which is I'll go back and forth between English and Spanish just to help everyone understand. We have a lot of language learners at our school, so there are so many students that have the potential to be bilingual and biliterate.

It's so important that we're using both languages and helping them understand that Spanish has just as much value and validity as English. Even though I went through the teaching college and everything like that, took all the courses, that first day I was still super nervous. I can't say I was fully prepared, and you know, I'm still progressing every day. I don't think it's possible to be fully prepared to become a teacher.

I remember that first day, I had this huge nervous feeling, scared and full of fear. It was always like the best times for you to grow. So, being able to get through kind of like not even that first day but the first week, after that it was like, "Oh man, okay, this is what I'm supposed to be doing." Employers and principals are looking for people who are really reflective, really on their practice, and who have the growth mindset to continue to grow and progress.

We have such a big emphasis in our school around coaching, and the progress you make as a teacher definitely comes up in interviews. That's one of the main questions that is asked: do we feel comfortable being videotaped? Do we feel comfortable with, like, in-the-moment coaching? A lot of times you're going to be asked to teach a lesson, and then a few minutes after you teach it, reflect on that lesson and pick out things that you did well and what you could improve on.

Definitely, principals are looking for people that reflect on their practice and are willing to grow. I feel like being a Black male teacher in the elementary setting has really given me an advantage in finding a job. Being bilingual, there was a lot that I brought to the table naturally that helped me find a job. But I do recognize that it can be tough for teachers, especially if you're not a math or a science teacher, to find a job and maintain it.

I know that it's so important for kids, especially nowadays where they have access to so much technology, that they have experiences with Black males who are positive and who are in schools serving kids and teaching with love. I feel like without that, it can be really tough for kids to see themselves being more than what is shown to them on TV or through music.

The amount of drive that you have to have to become a teacher means you would be successful at anything. But, you know, definitely having that passion for teaching—it's not easy. It's really difficult. You have to teach on the fly, think, and change your instruction as you go. You have to be humble every day because what you're teaching isn't working, so you have to change it up in some way.