Will was worried his thoughts were murky. His less than positive experience recently led him to some pretty clear ideas. I concur with them and can also relate to some remarks I’ve heard teachers make regarding professional development like, “just let us teach”. In other words, professional development is getting in they way of teaching. Will writes:
We teach teachers to teach, we don’t teach teachers to learn. Even in professional development, we teach them stuff they need to be better teachers, but do we give them the skills they need to be better learners? Do we evaluate them on what they’ve been reading? On what they’ve been writing? On their reflectiveness?
Tomorrow, I’m talking briefly to all our new teachers and interns. While my portion of the day is largely informational, I hopefully can share the idea of being a learner first.
We hire teachers based on how well they know their subject matter and how well we think they can deliver it to students….What if we hired learners first?
Dean,
It’s a valid premise that I’m sure is at work in a secluded, progressive school/district somewhere. One of my shocks when I entered the classroom after rigorous pre-professional training was the lack of observations of teachers by teachers for the sake of informing practice. Some of my most valued learning as a teacher came from the time I watched other educators plying their trade.
Today, I sat in a training surrounded by some top-notch teachers of my district and watched as they carried on side conversations whilst the trainer shared valuable information.
Two things:
1)They would not have accepted this in their classroom.
2) I wanted to point out that their inability to focus on even a mini lecture could not be terribly far removed from what our students experience on a daily basis.
Thanks for the post.
-Mr. Chase