The Devil Spread for Teachers

What fears, habits, or negative thought patterns are preventing me from being the teacher I want to be? Trust (The Fool)
What do I need to do to overcome this problem? Awaiting Results (7 of Pentacles)


One of the major things that prevents me from being the teacher I want to be is my unwillingness to trust myself and to have faith in my abilities. I am not a risk taker and often stay in bad situations because I am so afraid of the unknown. But this is holding me back in many ways. I have been teaching for nine years and seven of those years have been spent teaching 8th grade. I have been offered the opportunity to teach 11th or 12th graders, but I fear being unsuccessful with upper class men because teaching middle school students is all I know. On top of that, I have also had other big ideas that I have wanted to try in my 8th grade classes, but I fear the repercussions of those potential actions. I would love to have crystals in my classroom and I would love to do 5 minute yoga/meditation activities with my students to either calm them or energize them depending on the situation. I don't know why I fear trying new things in my classroom, but I definitely need to get over it.

The 7 of Pentacles is a reminder that I should trust myself because I do have a clear vision for what I want for my students.The 7 of pentacles represents my ability to see the bigger picture and the fact that I have been planting seeds for many years that I need to allow to bloom. Over the years I have developed a curriculum map, essential questions, objectives, and authentic assessments to have my classes run effectively and efficiently. I use backwards design when planning my units and every year I take professional development courses to keep my teaching fresh. I have to start giving myself credit for the hard work that I have put in these past nine years and understand that results can take a long time to show up. The 7 of Pentacles is a metaphor of all the work I have been doing up to this point. I have planted the seeds, watered them, and nurtured them and now I just need to wait patiently for the results to blossom. But in the meantime, I need to start taking some risks and trying some new things along the way.

I hope you find this spread helpful.

All my best,

Amy