During my third year of teaching, I was introduced to someone who would prove to be a great influence on my teaching life. Until that time, the only meaning I associated with the term "consultant" was the "Bobs" from the movie "Office Space". If you have not seen this film, I recommend you stop reading this post immediately and check out the movie (or at least this scene) because this post will not make any sense to you. My next great teacher was an educational consultant. For humors' sake, let's call her "Barb".
Barb arrived at my school to host a session on creating a vertically aligned plan for improving vocabulary instruction in grades K-6. We determined that many of our rural, impoverished community was lacking a solid foundation of everyday and academic vocabulary and without explicit instruction, we would not be able to close many of the achievement gaps our school was suffering from. This was my first opportunity to represent my grade level at a meeting where not all of us were able to attend. I was nervous, but excited to be part of the team.
Before that time, my professional development experience was limited to in-house meetings with long agendas of to-do items or data analysis based on own students' performance led by the building administrator. My only other sources of educational information came from my step father, a teacher in the school district, and my mother, a guidance counselor in the school district. Barb was my first outsider.
The vocabulary meeting was good, but relatively uneventful. Barb worked with our school on several other projects throughout the year, but it wasn't until my second year working with her when I began to really see her as one of my "top teachers".
My building principal created a leadership team and asked a representative from grades 3-6 to attend a series of workshops about becoming teacher leaders. I was in the midst of obtaining my masters' degree at the time and had heard the term "PLC" and others thrown around, but knew very little about what this would entail. The first day of training was fabulous, with a fancy lunch, time away from the classroom, other adults to speak with, free books... but it was the content that truly made a difference.
"I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Barb."
The first session was a very emotional one. Barb asked us to examine our own beliefs about teaching, our attitude towards our students, our demeanor when faced with change. As a new teacher, I'd spent precious little time examining my philosophical beliefs about teaching because I was still learning how to read a manual and get my students to line up quietly. I learned that year that building my own content knowledge by reading current information about education was absolutely vital to my growth. Barb exposed an area of weakness in me that I didn't not even know was there. Luckily, I had a supportive principal and colleagues who shared this value so it was nurtured in me early on and still serves me well today.
"I celebrate his entire catalogue..."
Another great lesson I learned from Barb was that every original idea that I've had is not even remotely original. Someone somewhere has probably already written articulately on the subject. Conversely, I learned that I have something to add to that body of research based on my personal context and expertise. I wasn't ready to understand this lesson that first or second year with Barb, but it is something I walked away from and revisited later in my career. Some of my most beloved authors (Wiggins and McTighe, Marzano, Maxine Greene, Brunner, etc.) were introduced to me in snips and quotes. These little soundbites resonated in my mind and I was able to read their work in its entirety when my own capacity was greater.
"Do you know I have eight different bosses? Eight, Barb. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation, it's not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Barb, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired."
We spent a great deal of time talking about teacher motivation. It was at a session with Barb when I first learned the link between student success and teacher effectiveness. Building the capacity of teachers is the number one most efficient pathway to increased achievement. I also learned that being motivated myself was not enough. If I wanted to be an effective teacher leader, it was my job to motivate my colleagues, some of whom were worn out and disenchanted with the changes to public education since the beginning of their careers. This continues to challenge me today, but at least I know now that blaming is not the answer. I need to advocate for children by building the capacity of my colleagues whenever possible.
"The pleasure's all on this side of the table, trust me."
I also learned the power of an energetic and passionate speaker. Barb cared about her topic, she cared about us, and she truly believed that change was possible. The very next year after my Barb experience, I took a new position that thrust me into the role as presenter. I spend a lot of time these days in front of adults, both parents and teachers, who need to see my passion and belief in the success of each and every thing I am recommending. It made all the difference in myself as a participant and I hope it does the same for participants in the workshops I now lead.
"Oh, oh, and I almost forgot. Ahh, I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too..."
The most important lesson I learned was that my job would never be an 8-3 kind of job. I looked with envy upon my older co-workers who clocked in and clocked out each day. I longed for this kind of freedom and automaticity in my teaching. I learned from Barb, however, that these were no longer effective teachers (or at least that they were not working to their potential). A truly effective educator does not "clock out". As a classroom teacher, I often stayed at school until 6 or 7 PM (and on one memorable occasion until 9 PM because of a blinding snowstorm!). As a resource teacher, I am often able to leave much earlier with much less work. I could, if I wanted to, clock in and clock out, but Barb instilled in me a passion for working to my potential. This may mean reading educational philosophy in my beach chair in July or attending a conference during a holiday vacation. It may be as simple as maintaining a blog that helps me to reflect on my practice or making a connection via Twitter that can make me see things differently.
Regardless, Barb "fixed the glitch". I now see my role in an entirely different way.
