Building Enthusiasm with Professional Development
I decided to become a
teacher because of a singular person: Miss Cathcart, my grade 9 English
Teacher. By grade 9, school was beginning to become a bit dreary. Looking back I realize the personalities of my teachers have begun to blend into each other. Miss
Cathcart stood alone. She was new to the profession when she began teaching me,
and she possessed something that my other teachers seemed to have lost. She was
enthusiastic. After taking this course, I have started to wonder what set Miss
Cathcart apart from all the other Misters and Misses. Surely, teachers with
more experience should be better than a fresh-faced education graduate? But the
other teachers were simply burned out. Research shows that teachers
suffer burn out more than any other profession (Williams Combatting Teacher
Burnout). The solution to burn out is creating a beneficial professional
learning community (PLC), which provides support and professional development
for teachers.
To make a professional
learning community, teachers need to meet with other teachers. These meetings
are, at least in my school, often viewed as undue punishments. In my school, we
meet as a department once every 8 days, for an hour. This is simply not enough
time to build any sort of relationship with other teachers, not to share any
valuable ideas for the classroom. We are simply relaying information. The
structure, timing, and pace of these meetings does not allow for any valuable
relationships to be formed. Teachers need to realize that they are part of a
social environment that needs to be nurtured. There are some teachers in my department
who I have never spoken to. There is no rapport between teachers, which is
detrimental to both teachers’ learning and to teachers’ teaching.
A school should have a
fundamental atmosphere of understanding and support. Between the teachers,
there must be a sense of empathy and camaraderie. After all, our aims should be
the same: delivering the best education for the students. The school
environment does not end, however, with teachers and students. Instead of the
community being confined by the walls of the school, a professional learning
community should extend to members of the board, parents and volunteer
organizations. There should be one large community. More collaboration with
more people will benefit the learning of the students. If ideas and workloads
are shared, education can be innovative and creative. Collaborative projects
can instill enthusiasm and excitement in both teachers and students alike, and
by sharing ideas with each other, teachers, board members and administrators
can contribute to their own professional development.
Team-building exercises and
retreats have proved successful in many other professions. As a student, I
attended an IB retreat with my peers at the beginning of the year. While there
was some formalized learning at this retreat, most of the real benefits were
attained through fun and creative projects. My fellow students and I formed
invaluable bonds that weekend. Teachers should, in turn, have a space for fun
in their professions. Through informal situations, collaboration can occur, and
new ideas can be born.
In my school, teachers are
evaluated twice in their careers: once, at the beginning of their first term,
and once at the beginning of their second term. Once the initial
evaluation is done, the teacher is deemed as “acceptable”, and then ignored.
This is not an ideal model; this model communicates to the teacher that they do
not need to develop further. Since, as teachers, we know that effective
learning relies heavily on feedback, it seems incongruous to provide no
feedback to the teachers after the second term. Classroom visits should take
place on a very regular basis, both formally and informally. Unfortunately, as
with most aspects of professional development, it is difficult to schedule with
teachers’ busy schedules. This should be remedied, in my school, and in any
other schools suffering from similar problems. There should be an open door
policy, where teachers have time to pop in to other classrooms, and see
teachers, especially in different subjects, deliver their lessons. This is
particularly important for an IB school, which tries to link all subjects.
Teachers need to practice
what they preach. We are all taught that learning happens in context and
through social relationships, and yet it seems we are unable to bring these
teaching strategies to our own professional development. We ask students to
stretch themselves in creative endeavors, get outside their comfort zone, and
look at issues from different perspectives. If we are asking our students to become
life-long learners, we must be able to rise to the challenge ourselves.
Workshops for teachers should not be an endless string of powerpoints and
videos, but should be as interactive and engaging as the classes we teach to
children. The professional development should take place within our school from
our peers and should be interactive, creative and collaborative. The workshops
we are given are usually dry speeches in stuffy auditoriums. There is no follow
up after they are delivered. Professional development for teachers should and
must follow the same high standards expected of us in the classroom.
Having new challenges is key to feeling fulfilled in your work. Professional
development through a positive professional learning community is the key to
keeping teachers motivated and enthusiastic. It takes time and energy to create
space for teachers to build their relationships, collaborate, and attend
workshops, but the pay off is invaluable. When teachers enjoy their jobs,
students enjoy learning. Professional development is the key to keeping
teachers happy. When teachers are happy, the learning environment benefits. In
short, in order to create a positive professional learning community, the
development of the teachers must be as important as the development of the
students. We must develop those enthusiastic fresh-faced graduates like Miss
Cathcart, not overwhelm or ignore them.
References
Summary of Professional Learning Community
http://www.allthingsplc.info/pdf/links/Overview-PLCatWork.pdf
Williams, Cheryl Scott, Combatting Teacher Burnout, THE
Journal, 11/03/11
http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/11/03/teacher-burnout.aspx