I have been in this profession since 1988 and have held a number of different positions, most of them as classroom teacher in the early grades.
Eight years ago I took on the role of coach in elementary mathematics and that developed into a position as Consultant of Elementary Mathematics for our school board. I held that post for 3 years and did a lot of work providing PD for teachers, working on curriculum revisions with our Department of Education and the like. While I did spend time in classrooms, I felt out of touch with what it was like to have my own classroom, be a part of a staff and make sure that I was doing a good job teaching EVERY subject, and not just mathematics. Last spring I made the decision to return to a school, a classroom of my own and put my skills to the test. While it was the MOST DIFFICULT year I have ever had as a teacher, not once did I regret my decision to return to the classroom. That has to tell me something, right?
What do I BELIEVE?
I believe that
- students need to be the "doers" of learning. Yes, there is a time to sit, listen and converse, but they need to be doing things in order to learn them.
- Primary/Kindergarten is the toughest teaching job there is.
- all teachers need to be encouraged and supported to grow professionally throughout their entire career
- I am a lifetime learner with a passion to better serve my students
How do I FEEL?
I feel
- excited to begin another journey at my dream school (moving from a LARGE school to a SMALL school)
- scared that the difficulties I experienced this past year will resurface
- happy that I am enlarging my professional development circle by using Social Media as an avenue to communicate with other teachers
I admire you for your courage to go back into the classroom. While consulting has its challenges, they are quite different than the challenges of being in the classroom. I had the opportunity to work as a New teacher Consultant in my district for the last 6 months and would still be continuing in that role except for cuts to provincial funding.
ReplyDeleteYou have been in education almost as long as I have and have seen the changes over the years. Teaching has become even more challenging and the role of the teacher has broadened to include more and more expectations for skills and time.
I look forward to reading your blog posts this summer and engaging in some meaningful dialogue around Early Childhood Education in the Canadian context.
Janice,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for taking the time to respond to my post. Consulting certainly had it's challenges and while I enjoyed my time in this role, I really missed feeling connected to a school and my own classroom.
Teaching has become more challenging, for many reasons, but my school board has done SUCH a good job of making expectations CLEARER and consistent from school to school that there has been improvement in student achievement.
That being said, the expectations are so clear that it is difficult to find ways to make my classroom and my lessons "my own" and to allow for students to lead the learning. After this year under my belt, I have a clearer idea of what is expected and what I will do differently to be more successful.
Once again, thanks for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate it!