As I dropped my daughter off at the high school this morning for her last few days of band camp, we both noticed that the parking lot was full. "First day for teachers," she said. "I wonder what they're discussing," I thought. Those first days of school truly bring excitement. Teachers and students are rested and ready to learn; more than any other time of the school year.
I used to live in a home that had a field beyond our backyard that was managed by a farmer. Prior to the field being used to harvest feed corn, for years, it was a home for about 30 cows. Each Spring, the farmer tended to the field by running (in the middle of the night) some sort of large piece of machinery over the field in order to turn the soil. You can imagine how intriguing this was to the senses when we would wake up the next morning! He readied the field in order to plant his crops several times throughout the planting season. His crops always thrived; and every year we lived there, he would spend an entire night, each time he started a new crop, turning the soil and then planting a day or so later. Ongoing...tilling, planting, harvesting, tilling, planting, harvesting...so his crops would grow and never fail. Our teachers are now sitting through several days of professional learning. Are they being intrigued, challenged, and motivated by what they hear? Is the professional learning relevant to their needs? Is it being delivered in a manner that leads to ongoing professional conversations that will occur throughout the year? Are the teachers being tended to so their learning will grow and ultimately allow every student to achieve? Is the system supportive of maintaining the growth process of all teachers, taking into account each teacher's needs and years of experience? What are your thoughts? Are you experiencing high quality professional learning? Are you delivering high quality professional learning? Will our system grow or fail?
1 Comment
Kim Wiest
8/27/2011 01:12:29 pm
As a classroom teacher of 26 years, I can say that each year it's the same story. Administrators force us to sit through hours of what they think is valuable 'professional development' sessions just prior to the start of a new school year. Sadly, we are not being inspired. In reality, the timing is poor. Just prior to the start of a new year, we are yearning to be set free to our classrooms to do the real work of preparing for our new crop of students. Instead we are forced to sit through hours of mind-numbing powerpoints and speeches about new initiatives designed to increase our pssa scores, while we sit making 'to-do' lists and wondering how we are going to get it all done in time. After sitting through 2 six hour days of 'fertilizing' by well-meaning administrators, I now have to spend my entire weekend doing the real work of getting ready to start a new school year because we are not given adequate time to do so. I do not work for your school district, but I am willing to bet the same thing is happening all across our state as we prepare to begin a new school year. I personally spent over 400 hours this summer revising my curriculum to meet new required initiatives, like deleveling and differentiated instruction. I did not get paid, nor did I get any 'Act 48 hours' for my dedication to my profession or my students. How could I possibly feel inspired by my inservice day activities when I have so much to do just to be prepared for day one of a new year and I am not given the time needed to prepare?
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Frances A. Miller, Archives
December 2017
Categories
All
|