How Perceptions Were Changed in Los Angeles3 Comments
At the conclusion of our March 2, 2010 Convening in Los Angeles, we asked participants: “After reading, listening and talking with your colleagues, in what ways have your perceptions changed about what is most needed to improve teaching effectiveness?” Here are some of their responses:
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“The idea that the big problem is bad teachers, when really this is a small piece of a larger issue. We must begin to change the national conversation regarding the blame placed on teachers.”
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“It’s about a new culture from top to bottom and bottom to top.”
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“I wasn’t aware of the strong desire from teachers for increased collaboration and forming networks of professionals.”
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“The ideas of building professional learning communities and teacher leadership rather than teacher dismissal.”
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“There’s a low return on investment in focusing on the worst teachers. The work required to dismiss the 5% of bad teachers doesn’t change the overall practice and we should be focused on the middle group of teachers and how to make good teachers great.”
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“Teacher retention of quality teachers.”
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“Collaboration and professional development cannot be a fast food drive-thru, it must be, at the minimum, a five course sit-down dinner.”
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“Change needs to be made at all levels, and there isn’t one thing that needs to be changed. Collective action, networks, and support are crucial.”
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“We need teacher evaluations that are specific, actionable, and are followed up with professional development support.”
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“We need systemic change to restructure the school day, allow for collaboration, and allow teachers to build on one another’s strengths.”
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“The biggest growth in teachers is when they can collaborate and learn from one another.”
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“Part of the problem is the breakdown in the opportunity to have these conversations in the first place.”
Comments
Most teachers are truly interested in reflecting on their own practice and motivated to teach in a more effective way when they are given the guidance and support. The obstacles to this happening are time and effective, targeted professional development.
Unfortunately, the trend towards larger classes directly impacts teachers’ opportunity to reflect and seek the information that might improve their teaching. What is the minimum number of minutes you would hope a teacher would spend looking at your child’s work each week? 30 minutes? 15 minutes? 5 minutes? Let’s say a 5th grade teacher has 34 students in her classroom. If she spends 10 minutes a week reading and thinking about your child’s writing, and 10 minutes grading their math work, plus another 5 minutes checking in homework assignments, that seems pretty minimal. But multiply those 25 minutes for your child by 34 other students and you get almost 14 hours just to evaluate student work each week. When you add in the expectation that teachers plan instruction and attend meetings with staff and parents, there simply isn’t time left for teachers to be reflective or to seek out the sources of professional development that they need. If we want to improve teaching, we must address class size… it is simple math.
If we want teachers to engage in reflective thinking and meaningful self- and peer- assessment, we need to provide a source for new thinking and professional development on site. Data Teams and Professional Learning Communities are great structures for collaboration, but they can’t operate in a leadership vacuum. To support teams in moving towards higher levels of teacher effectiveness, there needs to be on-site support for new thinking. Without a site-based source of professional development, teams will be less efficient in their selection of strategies and slower to build their understanding of effective teaching.
Clearly both of these issues are related to funding of education. Where and how we deploy our education money will affect the rate at which we progress to effective teaching. It is not reasonable to think that teaching will improve without addressing the fundamental issues of time and support.