Random Thoughts

A friend and I are engaged in teacher inquiry this school year.  She is, so far at least, just looking at her classroom practice to see where it works and where it doesn’t.  I am working on differentiating instruction in one of my classes.  So what?  What makes this somewhat unusual, I think, is that she is a kindergarten teacher and I teach at the university.  But, we are both part of the High Pains Writing Project, so we know that she has things to offer me, and I have things to offer her.  We know that we can help each other become better teachers by sharing our knowledge and experience and even our questions.

This is proving to be an interesting experience.  I know that Dee has helped me see my own classroom more clearly than I was seeing it before.  My program is set up for students who are at a high intermediate or advanced level.  But this semester, I have some students who would qualify as high beginners.  I needed to do something.  I had started making adjustments a few weeks ago, but now that we have started this project, I am trying to expand my efforts and create something that I can use in the future when I encounter a similar situation.  It is exciting.  And, as always, it is really rewarding to talk with another professional about my practice.

I ran across a post today from Mary Ann Wolf at the Huffington Post about professional development.  She says:

A stand-alone workshop has less than a 5% chance of actually changing teacher practice in the classroom. However, if you add on-going and embedded professional development, provide professional learning communities where teachers interact with their colleagues, and ensure on-going support from coaches and administrative staff, the chance of really affecting teaching and learning increases dramatically — to nearly 90% (Joyce and Showers, 2002).

While Wolf goes on to talk about the way technology has made this kind of ongoing professional development possible, I was reminded of another way to get quality professional development that is not a one-shot deal but rather an on-going process: institutes put on by local sites of the National Writing Project.

Any of us who have gone through an Invitational Summer Institute put on by our local Writing Project site know the truth in what Ms. Wolf said.    If you go through the writing project, you  have those colleagues and coaches and on-going opportunities to learn from each other.  My Louisiana writing project friends continue to support me and encourage me.  My new New Mexico writing project friends feel like long last family.  They are here for me all the time. Because of my Writing Project experiences and these people who provide me support long after my first institute, my teaching is forever changed.  I am forever changed.

If you have a chance to participate in a Writing Project institute of any kind, I encourage you to take advantage of it.  It will be the best professional development you have ever had.  And it will transform your teaching.

I had a good day today.  The Leadership Team of the High Plains Writing Project got together, as it always does on the first Saturday of the month.  This time, there wasn’t much business to take care of because most people were off doing other writing project things.  But for the seven people who were there, we had an intro to blogging.  I had set up a blog for our writing project site, but I hadn’t been able to show people how to even set up an account, much less make a post or anything else.  So we spent the morning setting up accounts, getting added as authors, making posts and commenting.  Everyone was amazed by how easy it was. It was nice to feel like I was really able to contribute something to the group.

Ewan has a post including a video of John Cleese talking about creativity. It is a wonderful way to spend 10 minutes if you like John Cleese, and a pretty good way to spend the time even if you don’t know who he is.

Ewan summarizes the video in 7 points.  They are all true, I think, but it is number 6 that most struck me.  He said:

The problem with some teachers is that they may not know that they are not very creative, and therefore they may not value creativity even if they can recognise it.

This is something I really, really believe.  Until participating in a summer institute sponsored by the Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project, I did not believe I was creative.  The Writing Project changed my perception of myself.  It, therefore, changed the way I teach.

So, in addition to encouraging you to watch John Cleese, I encourage you to check out the National Writing Project and look for a site in your area.