Despite research examining why teachers leave at such high rates, the intractable problem of attrition persists. Recently, teacher preparation programs have reported lower enrollment trends, and K-12 schools have reported higher attrition rates. Considering that one critical component of the problem is retention, more work is necessary to explore…

This poetic narrative aims to explore lived experiences of a language school teacher in a poor remote island in Vietnam. This article gives insights into how teacher identity was shaped through the eyes of a school teacher and how she struggled to rise to the challenge to become a better teacher version of herself. The self-portraits of how her…