LETRS professional development determined my course as an educator, allowing me to be part of a successful professional learning community that is constantly improving the instruction for students in this rural Wyoming town.

Like many aspects of mental health, the definitive cause of anxiety isn’t clear. Experts claim a multitude of factors as some of the suggested culprits. The reality is it is impossible to eliminate all of the possible stressors. Often it is more important to manage the emotional reaction to stress than to try to change the stressful situation.

Adolescents who struggle with reading are often reluctant to bring attention upon themselves and engage in class. However, with the right intervention, these students—who share the same dreams and aspirations as their grade-level peers—can become more, do more, and achieve more.

All of us do some things because we like to. We also do our best to instill in the children we teach and others this same feeling. Intrinsic rewards are wonderfully motivating, but we are not born with the ability to generate this motivation. We learn it through a variety of processes, starting at an early age.

There are many commonly proposed solutions to the shortage of qualified teachers for secondary students who are struggling in math or have learning disabilities. These solutions are expensive, complex, and they will take considerable time to implement. Many of them have been with us for years and have yet to be seriously implemented. So, what can be done in the short term?

At the heart of today’s challenge is finding a sufficient number of new teachers who have three distinct qualifications: 1) a sufficient content knowledge of mathematics, 2) a reasonable level of teaching or “pedagogical” knowledge of the subject, and 3) a capacity to differentiate instruction for struggling students. Finding all of these qualifications in one individual is rare, and the data confirm this.