2019 National Conference Early Career Teacher Competition 

Bridie Connell 
 
Beginning my career, I felt I needed to realign my understanding of the modern student. I loved 
school, and reading, and writing, but this was not the student I saw before me. Students would 
willingly tell me how much they hated reading: “It’s so boring, Miss.” I questioned why this was, 
when I still found one of the greatest joys in life to be losing myself within the world of the 
master storyteller. Is it because these stories are no longer the stories of our students? As 
educators we constantly endeavour to dismantle the place of homogenized stories that have 
long dominated the classroom, as our world is changing at a pace that many of these stories 
can no longer explain. In order to ensure representation of all students within the classroom, is 
providing a platform for students to write and live their own narratives not the best antidote for 
this boredom? 
 
Searching for answers, I found the commentary was consistent and angry. It was technology's 
fault! Technology had destroyed children’s ability to concentrate. Twitter feeds, Instagram 
posts, and Facebook rants took the place of many novels that had been cherished for years by 
those learning to understand themselves and their place in the world. The thing is, I don't 
believe this to be true. These novels studied in the classroom were used to help explain to 
teenagers who they were, what they should be, and what our world is like. Students of today 
no longer accept these explanations, and are raring to forge a world in which their experiences, 
knowledge, and voice is valued. When you turn on the news, the stories are no longer 
saturated with the old and wise being the sole campaigners for a future deemed better. It is the 
young: energetic, articulate, and passionate to speak their truths. They campaign for the 
betterment of the marginalised, the misunderstood, and our future. These technologies have 
become the platform for the youth to express themselves, to find kindred spirits from all 
corners of the Earth as impassioned as our students about real, immediate, and impending 
issues that happen beyond the classroom. 
 
As an educator, my voice is arguably my most important tool. It is used day in and day out to 
encourage, cajole, and plead with the masses to engage in their education. It’s used to explain, 
praise, and comfort, in a constant state of flux to align to the needs of the students. I have found 
my platform where I can advocate for those without a voice, and where I know I can make the 
greatest impact on a future that desperately needs it. The conference is a place in which I can 
expand my ‘language’ in order to ensure mine and my student’s worlds are not limited, as 
warned by ​Wittgenstein.​ From the conference, I want to gain knowledge that will allow me to 
build a culture within my classroom in which students feel they can take academic risks to 
ensure that their voices and experiences are heard, not just read over.