In Service (10-19-09)

This week found the entire teaching staff of USD 281 headed to Plainville to participate in a collective day of in-service. This was a first, or at least a first-in-a-long-while. With school budgets taking a continual pounding from state cuts, it just made sense for districts to consolidate their resources and work together on professional development.

The keynote speaker was Diane DeBacker, who at the time of her presentation was the Kansas Deputy Commissioner of Education (she is now the official “interim” commish, as later in the week Alexna Posney resigned to accept a post in Washington). Ms. DeBacker had a 100 slide PowerPoint presentation filled with everything you’d want to know about education in Kansas.

She talked to us about how Kansas Schools again had a higher percentage of their students reach proficient or better on the state assessments for the ninth straight year. She talked about how No Child Left Behind is probably on its way out, to be replaced by the new “Race to The Top” initiative. She talked a lot about teachers, from the those who quit after their first year, or leave the profession after five years or less, to those who will be eligible for retirement in the next five. She talked about mentor programs and performance pay and how Kansas is again slipping backward in the state rankings for teacher salaries.

She talked, and she talked. We listened, all 168 of us, from five school districts, representing every grade and every subject area.

When she finished, that was when the real in-service began. At that point, the teachers split into peer groups, joined with other teachers of their grade level and or area. They were given the task of completing an action plan for a collaborative project. Most important, though, they were given time to talk.

The next several hours featured not the talk of an expert, but the talk of teachers. Veteran and novice alike shared stories, swapped ideas, and talked about how to improve student performance and learning.

Afterwards, I heard nothing but glowing reviews. “It was so nice just to have time to talk with other teachers,” one person told me. “I heard many great ideas,” said another. “I can’t wait to work on our group project,” said a third.

Teaching is essentially a very lonely profession. Especially in a small school, where each teacher is not only the chairperson of their department, they may also BE their department. I remember from my teaching, being the only person teaching my classes. I was lucky in that I had other English teachers to talk to, but they never taught the same classes. I was the only speech teacher, the only Junior English teacher, etc.

During my first year, I remember asking the other English teacher what exactly I should teach. I asked where was the curriculum guide. “Curriculum guide?” she replied. “There’s no curriculum guide. Teach what you want.”

It was a liberating experience and a very heady time, to be sure. But also lonely. When you’re completely on your own, you question everything you do. There is no one else with whom to compare your teaching.

I have come to learn that my teaching experience is similar to most small town teachers. We wear many hats and we are able to meet the needs to our students one student at a time. But who meets the needs of the teachers?

I hope that this inservice will truly be of service to our teachers. I hope that by having time to collaborate with other area teachers, our educators will expand their base of teaching knowledge. Mostly though, I hope that this collective in-service has helped our teachers understand that they are not alone. When they need help, when they need some perspective on what is going on in their classrooms, they now have a list of peers they can turn to for advice and for support.

Teachers spend their careers “in service” of children. I hope they know that there are other teachers they can reach out to when they need someone to be “in service” of them.