Marguerite Sheffer Gather Keynote November 3, 2016 Lokey School of Business Gathering Hall, Mills College   Thank you for being here. My name is Marguerite Sheffer, and I am proud to be a Humanities teacher at Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, a small OUSD public school. Our department is entering Year 2 of inquiry work. I have been part of Mills Teacher Scholars for the last five years, starting back when there was just one Scholars group that met here in the Graduate School of Business when I was just in my third year of teaching. Over those five years, Mills Teacher Scholars has changed how I talk about my work, how I define my job. I am a professional, among other professionals--even when we dress up as Pokemon for Halloween. I am a professional, even when I am unsure what to do next.   A day in the life of a public school teacher is a day of frustration. It is a day without enough time, without sufficient materials, but crowded with vague and contradicting demands. We don’t get to cynically shrug off our work, though, since part of the frustration is that the time we spend with our students in our classroom is undeniably meaningful.  Every teacher I know feels that our job is important, but that we are not doing enough, that we are not quite prepared. Our frustration often comes from the fact that we take our work seriously despite often ridiculous conditions--that we hold ourselves to a standard higher than that implied by the time, recognition, pay, training, and resources we are given. Against this backdrop, Mills Teacher Scholars has empowered me to see my persistent questions and frustrations not as a shortcoming, but as a tool. Professionals  ask questions relentlessly. Professionals neither settle nor throw in the towel, but follow their frustrations down to the root in order to improve. In the view of Mills Teacher Scholars, teachers are consistently, defiantly professionals.