By Rob
One of my favorite summer activities was playing fetch in the park with my dog. After the pooch was worn out we’d sit in the grass and I’d marvel at the swallows that arrive by late morning. These birds would swoop, dive, bank and turn. It was dizzying to see how quickly they’d change directions and commit to a new path.
Another summer activity I enjoy is attending conferences on education. At each conference I’m inspired to improve some aspect of my teaching. I’d dive into these new topics like the sparrows in the park. I’d tell myself, “This is the year I implement small group instruction tied to differentiated learning goals.” Year after year my planning time, professional reading, and mental energy would be devoted to improving this, or some other, aspect of my teaching.
This July I attended the Lessons from TurnAround Schools- 2012 Institute with some teachers and the principals of our district’s Title I schools. TurnAround Schools is a program our district is using to help schools navigate (or avoid) the Corrective Action sanction for failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress.
Earlier this year Washington State was granted a waiver from AYP sanctions. Nevertheless the goal of TurnAround Schools– creating a culture of universal achievement is worth pursuing. This conference’s breakout sessions explained in detail “how to take the steps necessary to increase the academic achievement of all groups of children.” I was confident I’d find a new aspect of teaching to dive into. I attended sessions on using data, differentiation, parent support, and classroom management techniques for improving classroom culture and student achievement.
My experience was not what I had expected. The breakout sessions left me uninspired. The strategies that were shared were ones I had already known and or implemented. I didn’t find anything new.
When I shared this with my principal she replied- “Maybe that validates what’s already happening.”
Perhaps “the new” is not needed. Maybe we need to get the most out of what we already know.
This year I’ll avoid diving towards “the new.” I’ll follow the path I know and maximize my effort. I’m going to align myself with others and pull in the same direction. I’ll take my turn leading but I’m also happy to follow…
I’ll work more like a goose and less like a sparrow.
R.I.P. Porter
This is in contrast to the voices we are hearing at nearly every level. Politicians, pundits, philanthropists, and administrators are all beating the drums for reforms that assume what we are doing is not good enough. What you seem to be saying is that it IS good enough, but can be better if we take the time to do what we know well, instead of jumping from one new (or repackaged) initiative to the next.
There is so little patience to see the long-term impact of anything in education. Taking the time to become truly expert in an aspect of teaching could go a long way to improving our outcomes (student learning, character growth, community…).
So true! I was in a TPEP pilot meeting this morning and the comment “squeezing in 41 teaching components into a single lesson is not effective teaching”.
The temptation to “Do It All” is there and I need to work this year on improving one or two areas and really honing a few key things I know work well. Thank you for the perspective!
You are exactly right that the new is seldom really new… and unfortunately that does lead teachers to resist the “new.” I now believe in co-opting the new: find in it what validates what I already do, examine the rest by being selfish: what can I use? (Keep) What is not useful to me or my students? (Cull).
It is way too easy to get jaded and just not listen to any of it. I am entering my 11th year, which means my 11th pre-first-day-of-school set of inservices where all the new is unrolled and eyes are rolled all around the room. It’s too bad, really, because I think over the years I’ve allowed myself to have that same dismissive mindset: resist the new because it is new, because it is coming top down, because it isn’t really new, because it challenges what I already do. With that mindset, how in the world can I ever grow as a teacher?
I think this is an important place to reach in any profession or passion – that place where you can critically examine your options and feel confident in making a choice that’s best for you.
When I taught methods to secondary language arts teaching candidates, I tried really hard to impress upon them the importance of not only having a range of strategies under their belts, but of being able to tell which strategies worked for them.
I think you’re right. The things great schools are doing when they turn things around and students start performing are things many teachers are already doing. We don’t need a new reading curriculum, all packaged up and bought. We don’t need a new way of using groups, or a balance of groups and direct instruction. We just need to do those things well.
It’s important to have the strength and courage to say, “That’s a great idea, but I know that this is going to work better, so I’m doing this.” So many teachers simply complain that new stuff is thrown at them, I think they forget that, as experts, they have a lot of credibility to justify the choices they make for their students.
This post is an inspiring way to think about the start of this school year. Use what I already know, and try to do it well!
Yes!!! Me too! Let’s talk about this sometime…I am super excited to get rolling with what I already know. Well said, my friend!