Professional Development

During the 80's there was a strong movement to have students more involved in their own learning. This was the time that Cooperative Learning was the rage, and everyone was inundated with the theories of the Johnson brothers.  Our school was no different, but we went a step further.  Actually, we jumped the gun a little bit and, through a grant, twelve of us were chosen to be trained as trainers.  There were twelve more from the other high schools included so that there were a grand total of 24 of us in the training.

Those of us who were the chosen ones (the twelve disciples was what we were called in jest) met on a Monday in the summer in the music room.  As the chosen from the other schools filtered in, our trainer came in with our principal.  To this day I can remember the caricature of a man who presented himself as Dr. Bruce Joyce.  By this time in my career, I had some training and professional development, so in my mind I had the stereotypical presenter in mind.  You know, well pressed suit, impeccably clean, and bright smile as he entered the room.  That wasn't Bruce Joyce that I came to know.

Rumpled.  That was the word that came to mind as our principal introduced this well traveled and world renowned speaker. His shirt was wrinkled and untucked.  His pants weren't pants at all.  He was wearing shorts that were in just as much disarray as his shirt.  In place of shoes were ragged sandals that had definitely seen better days.

Disengaged quickly became my next impression.  As his praises were being presented, Dr. Joyce was fiddling in his pockets and rubbing his eyes clear.  What wasn't clear at the time, but after a week we knew, he was hung over.  When his introduction was complete, he cleared his throat and, not missing a beat, began the most compelling professional development that I have ever attended.

In the course of a two week period, this man opened to me and the others who were willing to listen a whole new world of education.  I had always loved to use Socratic discussions as a major part of my class.  I knew that through those discussions I was strengthening the learning of my students because they had to think creatively and use higher order thought processes.  Little did I know that this could be stimulated with other techniques.

Through Dr. Joyce I learned that Hilda Taba had had perfected a technique closely related to the scientific method that could be used in all classrooms.  It was called Inductive Thinking or the Taba Method.  I also learned that you could go away from the idea that you are teaching, allow for creative thought, gather the ideas that come from that thought, and return to the original concept.  This was Synectics, and it was a favorite of mine.  Further, he helped me to guide students to define without knowing the definition through Concept Attainment.

In that short amount of time, we learned these techniques, created lesson plans, tried them out on summer school classes, and learned the most important step of all - coaching.  Before we were done, we were all trained to go into each other's classrooms and provide feedback that would help teachers to improve the techniques so that students would succeed.

That was the beginning of it all for me.  I used it all, and my partner in crime, John Hill, helped me to keep it going. He coached me, and I coached him, at least until he went into administration.   My classes became more alive.  We were learning more and enjoying it more.  I include myself because each class period was as exciting as the one that left.

I was hooked, and the district must have noticed because they sent me to be trained by the Johnson brother in Cooperative Learning.  Those days at Ball State with the brothers allowed me to go back and train more on the use of the techniques.  And from there I was also chosen to be trained my Madeline Hunter in Instructional Theory Into Practice so that I could train teachers in the district in her model.

It was a whirlwind that ended with one last stop.  They sent me to work with Thomas Guskey on evaluation, assessment, and grading.  That was to be the step where I would be gradually moving into doing professional development for the district.  And I kinda did for a little while.  My contract was altered so that I taught in the morning and did coaching in the afternoon.  That lasted a semester before someone realized that I couldn't cover all of those who have been trained in a half day.

The result of that mistake was that I was to only do training and coaching in the summer, which, of course is unrealistic because coaching can only be done with a classroom of students present.  By that time I knew that I would be better off just being allowed to teach and didn't press the point.  It was at that time that other school districts came to me.  For the next few years, I was training and working with teachers in other districts even though my own district had paid for me to get the training, but they didn't want to use me.

Jumping ahead in time, I finally was able to coach, as I was trained to be, when our school was put in a position to improve or be taken over by the state.  I jumped at the chance to use my training.  And I did.  So you would think that I should be happy because we did save the school.  Coaching is a part of the every day life of today's schools.

So, what is the problem?  We aren't really coaching.  We aren't really doing what Bruce Joyce, Madeline Hunter, the Johnson brothers, or Thomas Guskey suggested.  Are they outdated?  Maybe.  Consider this to determine if they are - Do students need to work with others in the world outside school?  /Do young people need to come up with answers themselves without being told?  Do our youth need to work for extrinsic needs as well as instrinsic?  Do they need to think independently with the ability to rationalize?

Dr. Guskey's field is assessment.  Of all of my training, it was the area that I least enjoyed, but I came out of the training realizing that we truly needed to have a way of knowing if our students were learning.  I have no problem with that.  I know that he would not want assessment to get in the way of the learning that isn't tested.  I know that he wants our students to be successful on more than tests.

I overheard a student at commencement rehearsal say to a friend, "Thank God, I won't ever have to take another test."   On his Facebook page he lamented recently, "I hate my job.  I don't want to go back to school, but I have to find something better than this!"  There are always tests, but there are always different ways to learn too.  There are ways to reach all kids.  Teachers need the time, the training, and the courage to find those ways