Entry # 4: Teachers are still talking
about their craft and their kids
Editor's note: After two years as a middle grades teacher/diarist,
Deb Bambino will be chronicling her first year as a staff development coordinator,
serving 12 "cluster" schools (K-12). Deb will maintain her special
focus on the middle grades but will also share some of her experiences working
with other grade levels. It's a "system," after all -- and too
often we lose sight of the interconnectedness of teaching and learning across
our schools!
The status of the Philadephia school talks is still the first thing I check
on each morning, but I am feeling a bit more optimistic about the outcome.
Both sides are still negotiating and the Mayor has guaranteed teachers'
salaries and basic conditions during this stressful process.
In the meantime, my new job has begun in earnest and I am already being
pulled in two directions. On the one hand I am setting up school visits;
on the other hand I am attending meetings, setting up meetings, preparing
for meetings, trying to process what I just heard at the last meeting --
you get the picture.
I'm not one of those people who hates all meetings, but I am worried that
my potential for actually spending time with kids and teachers is shrinking.
I guess this goes with the territory, but I'm going to keep a close eye
on it.
Earlier this week we organized a workshop for all kindergarten teachers.
I really enjoyed this opportunity to return to my early childhood beginnings.
I originally attended school with the goal of teaching kindergarten, but
I ended up in grade seven and never actually taught a primary grade.
Revisiting curriculum through a multi-cultural lens
Our focus in the workshop was on learning centers. In particular, we were
trying to expand the ways in which centers are used. Most classrooms have
block, story and housekeeping centers, but we felt we could expand the literacy
lessons in each. We were also anxious to explore the cross curricular options
and practices which teachers might already be using at centers in their
individual schools.
We didn't want to overwhelm anyone with the idea of constantly revamping
their room; instead, we discussed extensions and refinements of activities
they already had in their classes.
Viewing centers through a multicultural lens, we were able to add new dimension
to lessons which might have previously been more narrow in their appeal.
For example, we had an activity where the kids would match the coupons from
the Sunday paper to the product ads on a poster board. In its original format
the products were limited to those found in the mainstream papers.
By expanding our view, we were able to visit stores with more specialized
clientele, stores with ads for products like arroz and gandules, and get
their circulars. Incorporating these simple additions from neighborhhood
stores into the activity opened up the process for our children, many of
whom come to us from households where English is rarely spoken.
Along the same lines, we introduced a story book by Aliki, called Marianthe's
Story. In the book, Aliki describes a child who comes to school speaking
only Greek. The little girl paints what she is experiencing, and slowly
but surely, she learns the words to describe her adventure, both its ups
and its downs.
One of my co-facilitators was able to share her own experiences as a child,who
entered school speaking a language other than English. After she talked
about her experience, we asked teachers to share their ESL strategies. The
sharing was a high point of the morning. There was a lot of talk about pairing
students as sort of bilingual buddies, as well as discussion about translation
and counseling resources that are offered by the District.
Teachers also freely swapped tips for the management of student choice vis
a vis center activities. The room was literally humming with excitement.
Teachers were doing what they love to do, despite the stress of the ongoing
labor negotiations at a downtown hotel. They were talking about their craft
and about their kids. The dedication and collegiality of the participants
was energizing.
The kindergarten teachers haven't had a chance to get together citywide
for quite some time. As usual, time and money are the stumbling blocks.
My/our ability to hold these kinds of sessions is caught in the tug-of-war
that is going on in those negotiations that I keep talking about. Issues
of when the meetings are held and whether the teachers are compensated for
attending are always a part of the picture.
New legislation requires all teachers to attend more professional development,
but the accreditation system hasn't been extablished yet! I hope this gets
worked out quickly.
We all know about some of those "college" courses you can take
to fulfill your continuing education requirements, courses that have little
or no relevance to our teaching. It would be really powerful, if we could
actually deliver a package of meaningful professional development sessions
to meet the new criterion.
Wary about the "band-aid" approach
As we begin scheduling our school visits and initiatives I am acutely aware
of the danger of falling into a band-aid approach. Schools have begun to
call with requests for very specific help. One school wanted a diagnostic
reading test, another wanted the name of the secondary sales' rep for a
particular publisher.
While these requests are legitimate, I don't want to get so bogged down
with time-consuming details that I never set up any programmatic interventions.
This might sound simple, but there are only three of us and we're trying
to address the needs of 12 schools that span grades k-12.
The approach we've settled on is one that pairs a close reading of the school's
goals, as stated in their written plans, with a walk-through of the buildings.
In the walk-throughs, we hope to find evidence of the plans' implementation.
After the walk-through, our team will meet to give feedback to the principals
and their teams about what we did and did not see. We will also begin talking
about those supports that are needed at each school.
I don't see the supports as static things which we dispense. Instead, I'm
looking to facilitate the teamwork, study and reflection that can help each
staff become more self-sufficient.
It just occurred to me that if we do a really good job, we'll be working
ourselves out of a job in the not too distant future. We'd be looking for
work much sooner if the teachers could gain the credits they now need by
training with each other as critical friends or reflective practitioners.
Hmmm.
[Editor's note: Deb will serve as co-moderator of the
new MiddleWeb listserve, which will begin early this fall.]
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