When one instructor posted an absurd yearbook photograph on her Instagram, it stopped my scroll—and clearly, I wasn’t the one one. Her post has received a lot of attention, putting a chord with educators.
Right here’s what she wrote: “Every year, my purpose is straightforward: train the teachings, make them chortle, and take one fully absurd yearbook photograph that nobody will ever neglect, as a result of pleasure issues. Years later, when my college students return as school youngsters, they don’t speak about grades or tasks, they speak about my foolish yearbook photograph. I would like my college students to know that college will be stuffed with laughter, reminiscences, and even a little bit of chaos.”
This message resonated deeply with me, and I needed to be taught extra in regards to the instructor behind the photograph. Meet Jere Chang, a gifted-education instructor whose Instagram and all of her social media is stuffed with the identical power and coronary heart that’s profitable over hundreds. Right here’s my Q&A along with her.
The place do you train and the way lengthy have you ever been a instructor?
I train gifted training at Drew Constitution College in Atlanta, Georgia, and I’ve been within the classroom for over 20 years. I’ve taught every little thing from kindergarten by school, together with ESOL, basic training, and at the moment gifted training in 1st by third grades.
When did you begin taking humorous yearbook pictures? What number of do you have got now?
I began about 10 years in the past once I realized lecturers might both dread image day or personal it. It started as a joke, however now it’s custom.
Do you have got a favourite photograph 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 almost all former college students rave about.
Do you have got a particular reminiscence of a pupil who got here as much as you years later and shared how they remembered your photograph?
Sure! I had a former pupil come again from school and say, “Ms. Chang, I nonetheless present individuals your yearbook photos once they ask who my favourite instructor was.” That meant the world to me. The photograph might have been humorous, however what they actually remembered was how our classroom felt.
What’s your “why” for instructing?
I train as a result of I do know what it’s prefer to hate faculty, and I would like my college students to really feel the alternative. I would like them to chortle, really feel seen, and imagine they belong precisely as they’re.
How do you hope your college students will bear in mind you years from now?
I hope they bear 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 troublesome time proper now to be a instructor. Do you have got any phrases of knowledge or help to supply different lecturers?
Keep in mind to maintain your self. You possibly can’t pour from an empty cup, however you’ll be able to refill it with laughter, neighborhood, and charm for your self. We’re shaping lives, not simply information objectives.
What’s a tip it’s important to preserve the enjoyment in instructing?
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. Carry all the brand new power as we go the torch to you. Youngsters today deserve one of the best of us, so don’t let others and/or information design your journey.
What else ought to we find out about you?
Outdoors of faculty, I’m a nationwide speaker and digital content material creator with over 4 million followers, sharing tales that commemorate lecturers and actual lecture rooms. I simply completed my first guide, and it’s popping out Could 2026. It’s a two-part guide that traces my journey from a struggling pupil to thriving educator, then provides sensible methods and heartfelt tales to assist lecturers rediscover pleasure and function within the classroom. I reside in Atlanta, Georgia, with my spouse and our two sons.
You’ll find all of Ms. Chang’s hyperlinks on her website right here.
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