In the first few pages of the chapter, I was struck by the statistic that most schools spend just 1 to 3 percent of their budgets on professional development (192). I immediately took out our school budget and did the math: 1.24% is set aside for PD. I know that funding is extremely tight for a charter school in its second year, but I never thought of our professional development as being limited. I feel like I get plenty of support and resources from my colleagues as well as Reach and I know that having multiple sessions with Judy Miller is a special privilege at a significant cost. I am getting regular "classroom-based feedback" (196) from Peggy, Preston and Maricela who take the time to write down and discuss with me new ideas and techniques to improve my teaching. Especially as a TFA corps member, I feel that I have many different opportunities for learning at my disposal should I need them.
I found it really interesting that the chapter made a distinction between simply learning new teaching techniques and having a deeper understanding of how to teach a specific subject area as highlighted by the example of Mrs. O, the math teacher (194). Of course, this is exactly the distinction that we need to make with our students when following the UbD model. I shouldn't be surprised that the same theme is still running through every one of our courses! I guess I never considered how important it is for my understanding of teaching to be as thorough as my students' understanding of the subject matter they are learning.
As I continued reading, the chapter echoed my thoughts and my lack of confidence about knowing how to be a better learner. "Learning involves making oneself vulnerable and taking risks, and this is not how teachers often see their role... In addition, teachers generally are accustomed to feeling efficacious--to knowing that they can affect students' learning--and they are accustomed to being in control" (195). Although I can't say that I always feel incredibly confident or in control as a teacher, I am more unsure about my role as a learner, probably because I feel that I have so much to learn and I don't know where to start. If I don't even know what my fundamental beliefs are about teaching, then how can I change them?
The main idea that I got from this article is that even though I need to focus more on reflecting on myself as a learner, I am definitely working in an environment where my learning is important and I am able to consider pedagogy, feedback from observation and collaboration in order to improve as a teacher. I just wish that I had more time to take advantage of all these learning opportunities.
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4 comments:
I completely agree with you. I also found it interesting that such a small portion of the school budget goes towards professional development. WE are fortunate because we know that we can go to REACH, TFA, principals that will help...etc not everyone has those option.
You are definitely right, Daisy-- I know that others aren't lucky to have the support we have. I just wanted to emphasize how we are able to grow as teachers (because of Reach, TFA, programs at my school) even if the budget doesn't reflect that.
Claire, thanks for doing the math on this one for us at our school site. I think we have to tap into the resources that we do have. YOu have feedback and resources from the master teachers, Reach, our principal and TFA. I think that teacher collaboration is very important and helpful to me as the chapter mentioned. Sometimes as a math teacher I feel cut off from what the literacy teachers are doing in their world, but collaboration is necessary with literacy teachers and math teachers as well. I firmly believe that our school is on the right track in providing the necessary resources that will help us grow professionally.
Claire, I said the same exact thing-- that statistic is what stuck out to me the most, as well. I wrote about the same thing in my blog- we have so much in terms of Rocketship providing us with those opportunities, whereas I'm sure many other people are complaining about having no support. I guess it's a bit of a catch-22 for us; not enough time to really utilize the resources that are there, but fortunate to have them available.
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