Entry 10: Teaching as Emotional Labor in the 21st Century

Date: June 6, 2025
Quotation: "When big data is a driving force… education might be driven by what the data can actually show rather than by what we want it to show” (Ben-Porath & Ben Shahar, 2017, p. 246).
Reference:
Ben-Porath, S., & Ben Shahar, T. H. (2017). Introduction: Big data and education: ethical and moral challenges. Theory and Research in Education, 15(3), 243–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878517737201

Why I Included This:
This entry connects everything that came before: flipped learning, emotional engagement, digital fatigue, data ethics, and student agency. But it centers on me, the emotional labor of teaching in a digitally mediated world.

This quote brought clarity. I realized that the fatigue I’ve been feeling isn’t just workload, it’s ideological tension. Teaching today means constantly negotiating between what I know my students need and what digital systems tell me they should do. The gap between the human and the algorithm is emotionally taxing.

In my LINC context, where students bring complex backgrounds, tracking their growth through spreadsheets feels inadequate. Their stories, their fears, their wins these aren’t always “trackable.” That’s why I keep emphasizing choice, feedback, and discussion (see Entries 5, 6, and 9).

This is a  turning point. I’ve changed from someone who explored tools to someone who questions systems. From someone who worried about doing things “right,” to someone invested in doing what’s just.

I now see teaching not just as planning and delivery, but as ethical work that asks me to feel, not just measure. This emotional lens is essential to supporting students in meaningful, sustainable, and human ways.