A Reflection...
Wow, my first year here at MBHS has come to an end. I have been teaching for a decade. It is hard to believe. I have seen good teachers come and go. I have seen teachers get fired up and get burned out. Through ten years of teaching, I have learned many valuable lessons. Because my house holds two teachers, education and the "business" of the teaching profession are often the topics of conversation. My husband and I have had conversations over dinner that include topics such as: bus/lunch duty, secretary squabbles, roach infestation in a classroom, "Johnny" continues to fail all of my tests, "Suzie" told me today that her mother has cancer, my point guard is not a leader, my head cheerleader has an eating disorder, my principal takes me for granted, transfer of allocation forms, lunch money.... and the list goes on.
I love teaching. Most teachers don't do this job for the money or the respect (because we usually don't get much of either). We do it for the love of our subject, our students, and our desire to make a change. It is a passion that we cannot explain. We are counselors, facilitators, parents, leaders, doctors, advocates, secretaries, custodians, motivators, and experts. The other stuff.... because there is plenty of the other stuff (see list above), is just the layers we have to peel through to get to the real job.
Since summer is here, I would like to open this blog up to teachers (and students if they feel the need) to share their thoughts about teaching, learning, school policies, etc. Ask questions, add your experiences, give advice.
The first question I would like to pose is this- What would you consider a "Professional Learning Community"? Forget the book definition of this and tell your perfect school community. Where does it start? Who is involved? Define roles, explain expectations, give philosophy... I think the only way we can truly see ourselves and our schools as institutions of PROFESSIONALS who promote LEARNING and foster COMMUNITY, we must decide what our own notion of this is.
I know that you don't have much time right now, but imagine this blog being a portal to extended "lunch talks" about stuff you need to talk about. Click comment and write your thoughts. You can post anonymously ... if you choose (which would be best) you can include your first name only at the end of your comment. You don't have to create a Blogger account to comment. Just click comment and type away. This will be open to teachers of schools around the state and the world (world wide web!), so what you say may be exactly what others need to hear.
Reflect... you know you need it. Have a great summer. I will see many of you soon.
