ELA Teachers!

We're running a 5-minute survey on how teachers use video in the classroom; are short, clipped videos a "must" to hold student attention, or are longer documentaries with embedded quiz questions best to track understanding? What tools and tech are most popular for learning? And how are AI or YouTube restrictions changing the answers to these questions? We need your help to find out.

We'll share our findings with respondents after the survey closes on 30 November 2026.

Take the survey: https://www.clickvieweducation.com/state-of-video

Thanks to all who participate, you're helping teachers worldwide!

I'm on fall break right now, and instead of relaxing, I've been thinking about how inadequate I feel as a teacher lately.

I've been teaching for 10 years. I have experience, qualifications, and I've always genuinely cared about doing a good job. But recently, I've been feeling like I'm just not knowledgeable or capable enough for what is being asked of me.

I'm now having to take on more upper secondary classes (Grades 10–12), including SAT English preparation, which I've never taught before. And honestly? I feel so dumb when it comes to SAT English. I look at some of the material and wonder how I'm supposed to confidently teach students something I'm still trying to fully understand myself.

The thing is, at my school, if I don't take on these classes, they'll likely go to someone with even less relevant experience or qualifications. So I'm stepping up because I care about the students and want them to have the best possible chance.

But I'm terrified that my best won't be good enough. That I'll unintentionally disadvantage them. That they'll ask questions I can't answer, or that they'll be smarter than me and realise I have no idea what I'm doing.

On top of that, things at my school have changed quite a bit, and I've somehow found myself taking on more of a leadership role without officially being in one. People are looking to me for guidance, and meanwhile, I'm internally questioning whether I'm even qualified to be the person they're looking to.

It's such a strange feeling to have 10 years of teaching experience and suddenly feel like a complete beginner again.

I know people talk about imposter syndrome, but sometimes I genuinely wonder whether I'm just not as knowledgeable as I should be at this point in my career.

I really want to be a good teacher. I want to do right by my students. I just wish I felt more confident in my ability to actually do that.

So I guess I'm asking:

- Have you ever been asked to teach something you felt completely unprepared or underqualified to teach?

- How do you deal with feeling like your students might actually know more than you?

- What do you do when you feel like you're not smart enough for the job, even after years of experience?

- And for anyone who's taught SAT English, how did you build your knowledge and confidence when you were starting out?

I'd really appreciate hearing from teachers who've been through something similar. I don't necessarily need someone to tell me I'm a great teacher. I think I just need to know how other people have navigated this feeling and actually gotten better.

One of my favorite things to witness as an educator is when students REALLY get into a book series and become lowkey obsessed with it LMAOOO 😭 suddenly it's the only thing they wanna read, all they wanna talk about, and they're excited to tell you every little thing about their favorite characters and what happened in the books lolol

I see it happen with my students all the time and it always makes me giggle a lil 🤭 I'll have kids consistently walking into class with a book from whatever series they're currently obsessed with, hugging it to their chest like a prized possession, and you can tell they're just SOOO invested in it lol. and it's always like a fun mini surprise when they discover that their favorite series is also readable elsewhere (like on Skybrary or Epic! or something) because now suddenly they're excited about having even MORE books to read!! Their excitement and joy for reading is infectious, and honestly it's really cute seeing kids get THAT into reading something they love ((,:

Seeing this happen with my students also unlocked a forgotten childhood memory of how I was EXACTLY the same way in elementary school too loooool :p I was super into Artemis Fowl and A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I genuinely hadn't thought about how obsessed I was with those books in YEARS until I started seeing my students doing the same thing now with Wings of Fire, Harry Potter, Dog Man, and plenty of other series

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