Re-formed

Today is the Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform, and many edu-bloggers in my PLN have written to offer their ideas about what might reshape American education. I’m uncertain that I have anything substantial to add to the box of ideas. Nevertheless, I want my voice on record as saying I think students, teachers, parents, and school-level administrators deserve a place at the table in any discussions centered around educational reform. We live this system everyday, and we know it better than anyone else. If legislators and business leaders want to change it, they’d be wise to listen to what we have to say.

Although this is my twelfth year in education, this is only my second year in public schools. I spent the first part of my teaching career working in an independent school (they prefer “independent” to “private”). I had a wonderful experience teaching there and wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I am extremely grateful to be where I am now.

Why am I so thankful? I appreciate the commitment that I see to professional growth and development. I cannot adequately express how much I have learned in the past year. Sure, much of my learning has occurred through my PLN and could have happened while being employed anywhere, but certainly not all of it. In the independent school, when the belt-tightened (and it always seemed to be tightening), the first thing to go was professional development. But in my new school and district ongoing, meaningful PD is a priority, and I have been re-formed by it.  I have spend a large part of the past year learning, and thanks to it my philosophies have changed. My passion for learning has heightened, and my willingness to experiment has grown. I’m not the only one.

Last school year, I watched two biology teachers choose to collaborate to create a system for intervention and enrichment for their students. Both veteran teachers, they reinvented themselves and attempted something new for the sake of their students, and the students learned because of it.

So what am I asking of legislators? Don’t disavow the importance of continued learning and advanced credentials. In fact, do what you can to allow more of it. I’m not asking for more “death-by-PowerPoint” in-service days, but I am asking that you provide the funding educators need to keep growing, that you build in time for us to connect and collaborate, and that you allow us to be innovative and experiment (which occasionally comes with failure) in how and what we teach.

I’m not the educator I was a year ago. My skills have improved; my knowledge has grown; my philosophies have changed. I have no idea how you reshape an entire educational system, but I can testify to what re-formed me – and it was passion for professional learning.