Today we had a waiver day (no kids, PD all day) due to Race to the Top funding. My brain is pretty fried, so here's a short reflection:
- The opportunity to discuss and APPLY whole-district ideas with people from my subject area is invaluable. It's so important to figure out together how WE are going to apply RttT and progress measures to OUR classrooms to benefit student learning.
- Nothing helps decrease stress like talking things out with colleagues and realizing that they are all feeling the same way I do: a mixture of confidence and being overwhelmed. Yes, we track our kids' progress all the time through a wide variety of authentic measures, so we're already ahead of many people, I suppose. However, it's going to take a lot of work to start formally documenting all of that progress and making it more concrete. Moreover, I'm not the only one who needs to do a lot more formal pre-assessing to identify concretely where kids are STARTING so we really know HOW MUCH they're growing.
- I LOVE collaboration -- at least, with colleagues who are "on the bus" (as School #2's principal would say) with the same types of ideas that I am. I wish I got to collaborate with challenging, hard-working peers more often. My current position makes me feel like an island, and while I definitely have an independent streak (I am an only child, after all!), I crave dialogue and idea-sharing and someone to work with on all these big initiatives that are looming ahead. Moreover, I love the feeling of excitement that comes from passionate colleagues working together to increase student learning.
- Since I don't get to connect with those "real-life" colleagues nearly as often or as consistently as I'd like, thank you to all of the wonderful teacher bloggers who also inspire, share your ideas and feelings, and provide that same excitement about student learning. You are like a mini-collaboration session in my RSS reader every day!
"Learning floats on a sea of talk" (said by James Britton) and you just lived that in your waiver day (new term for me). When we get to talk about the issues it helps us get focused, not just on the same page. I wish there was more time to have meaningful conversations.
ReplyDeleteI agree about getting focused, elsie! (And about time.) It's called a waiver day b/c our district got a special waiver from the state to have 2 extra days of PD (this one and one in Feb.) on days that we would normally have school. This time it was tied to Race to the Top, but we've gotten them in a few other years through some other kind of application process.
DeleteNothing provides a more powerful boost to my teacher self-esteem than being validated by colleagues. It is so important to know we are not alone. In fact, just reading your post made me feel better because you articulated a need I share with you--to become more intentional about formally documenting progress, even though many processes are already in place. I think I would feel much more lost without this blogging community to support me!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christy and Elsie--and you. Being validated as a teacher by those you work with is wonderful for the self esteem. I think it's why I love this community of bloggers--it's nice to visit with those who see the value in what we do!
ReplyDeleteI too had a recent PD day and felt so full afterward. A good and bad kind of full. I love the collaboration and validation but it can be so overwhelming when you look at where you need to go! I am always thankful that at least I am on my way there and feel the momentum of others that are along side of me!
ReplyDeleteOoh I love your imagery of feeling "a good and bad kind of full". That's just how I felt! :)
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