2012

Rose F. Kennedy once said, “neither comprehension nor learning can take place in an atmosphere of anxiety,” (n.d.). Although anxiety can empower an individual to perform intensely, this increase in performance may come at the cost of others. Since the legislative passing of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001, an increasing number of teachers face challenges on a daily basis to meet NCLB guidelines, as well as state and local regulations (Simpson, LaCava, & Garner, 2004). Some of these requirements include: (a) teaching regulated benchmarks (Albrecht & Joles, 2003), (b) maintaining accountability for each student in their classroom (Bowen & Rude, 2006), and (c) meeting the academic and social needs of a diverse population of students (Neill, 2006). As such, teachers have experienced a shift in roles, responsibilities, and identities during the past two decades.