Fellowship taught a teacher confidence through practice

trust your – A Voices of Change fellowship reshaped a high school English teacher’s approach to instruction—pushing her to write and teach with vulnerability, authenticity, and the belief that “perfection” isn’t the point. Through multiple essays, she learned to slow curri

The first workshop in the Voices of Change fellowship didn’t feel like a lesson plan. It felt like a test of nerve.

In that early session, the group learned how to write a pitch and talked through what “successful pitching” looks like. For Fatema Elbakoury. the takeaway landed fast: the fellowship would ask her to do something she’d been afraid of—practice a kind of vulnerability that went deeper than the way she typically modeled for her students. “I’d have to face myself. ” she writes. describing the moment as the start of an education that wasn’t just about teaching techniques. but about identity.

Elbakoury. a high school English language arts teacher at June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco. says the fellowship’s core message shifted her thinking about what good teaching requires. Becoming a Voices of Change fellow. she writes. empowered her to believe she could be a teacher “with all my flaws. ” and insisted that “perfection” is not necessary—arguing instead that perfection is antithetical to good teaching.

In the workshop, the instructions were practical: write a pitch. The impact, Elbakoury says, was personal. She learned that her “individual voice and reflections” were something to offer—not a substitute for best practices. but not reducible to them either. Her writing, she explains, mattered most when she was both vulnerable and specific about her own classroom story.

That connection between writing and teaching shows up again and again in her essays. She describes one essay about “the time when two birds flew into my classroom. ” and says it taught her that play is education. Even now. she writes. she can breathe when things go wrong—because that essay reinforced a permission she had to give herself: it’s okay for curriculum to slow down. and for community building to sit at the center.

Another essay explored “the power of neurodivergence.” It did more than help her explain herself on the page. She says it brought her into contact with other neurodivergent teachers and reminded her that her experiences are what make her the best teacher she can be. Where she once felt sadness about her brain being built differently. she says the process and outcome of the essay turned that difference into “a gift to share with others.” The fear she expected to follow her into public writing became something else entirely. “I was most afraid to write that essay, but now I am most proud of it.”.

Elbakoury also frames her work as a series of confidence-building steps. The topics she thought she’d already seen—boredom, artificial intelligence, and allyship—were familiar, she writes. Yet her editor encouraged her to see that even with those themes saturating the conversation. she still had a voice worth sharing. even when she didn’t think she did.

The lesson wasn’t limited to what she wrote. She says the fellowship made her more “embodied. ” more present. because she realized what makes her “me” would help her connect more meaningfully with students and the world. When students had off days, that translated into more empathy; on better days, it meant more encouragement.

Ultimately, she ties her experience to courage. The essays. she writes. helped her notice that the most important stories she had to tell were the ones she’d been too afraid to address publicly. Through that shift. she says she came to see education’s core as courage—the courage to be all of herself and to try new activities inside and outside the classroom. and the courage to share herself if she wanted her writing. and her teaching. to have the biggest impact.

Since completing the fellowship, Elbakoury says her identity has expanded. She sees herself not just as a teacher. but as “a writer. a thinker. and an observer who has something to say.” The joy. she writes. has come through the process itself: with each essay. she chipped away at fears and accepted that the work changes her.

Now, she says, she tells her students something she had to repeat to herself during the fellowship: “trust your voice.”

This story is part of an EdSurge series chronicling diverse educator experiences. The stories are made publicly available with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and EdSurge maintains editorial control over all content. Elbakoury’s piece is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Voices of Change fellowship educator writing vulnerability authenticity neurodivergence classroom community curriculum pacing play is education teacher identity