9. Does going back into a classroom for a year matter?

Going Back as a tool for Professional Development

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

I have just completed the third nine-weeks of a year-long experience teaching eigth grade math in rural North Carolina. I was having lunch with one of my colleagues. Her husband asked, “What are the take-aways from this experience?” ('This experience' means leaving the university to teach full time in a middle school.)

My first response is to reiterate the importance and value of building relationships among children. I believe everyone I work with values and is committed to working with young adolescents. And while some teachers respond differently or build relationships differently when compared to other teachers, I truly believe that everyone in the building where I work recognizes the importance and value of the relationship. I must teach those I work with to recognize their teaching styles, their advocacy styles may be different than others and to not judge their colleagues because they may be different in their approach to working with children.

A second take-away has to do with my view of advisory. Very often in my past, I believe I looked at “advisory” (the organizational structure) as something separate from teaching. I believe I have taught advisory as a class or experience middle school teachers do with and for students. I now believe that advisory is a thread that must be woven more intentionally within our classrooms, on our teams and throughout our schools. I no longer believe it is a separate entity and while I believe having a teacher who advocates for a particular group of students, I believe middle school teachers and teams of teachers must advocate for all students.  I came to this realization after giving a presentation to our grade levels about advisory. I realized that by treating advisory as something other than “how to build relationships with students,” it is seen as a compartment rather than a philosophy. When teams of teachers talk about students, are concerned about students, bring students together, set up team-wide sessions or themes, this is advisory. Perhaps if teachers saw advisory as a philosophy of how to communicate and advocate for young adolescents, it would not be seen as something in addition to teaching.

A third “take-away” is the necessity for pre-service, beginning and veteran teachers to develop a comprehensive view of and resource-bank for integrating technology into the classroom. I believe technology for technology sake (often quoted as a bad thing) is a bad thing. I hear of and see much misuse of technology in my own classroom as I try to learn how to navigate this tool. As I consider my own lessons learned about technology, I believe I have more questions than answers, more dreams than realities of how to use it best. Technology is not to be taken lightly. It is an ongoing challenge and opportunity that must be considered very carefully. In my past, college students had to use technology in a unit plan. I now see it much broader encompassing collaboration, gathering of knowledge, ethics, assessment and communication.

Finally, my fourth “take-away” is that full-time teaching in a middle school, or in the setting of any university professor’s passion, is by far the best professional development available. As I begin to wind down this year, my hope is to advocate for university and college professors to step into the environment, and I will challenge them to live their passion. The experience, for me, has been insightful and inspirational and I hope that universities will find ways to support their professors in colleges of education to do more of this.

The entire experience has given me much insight into the importance of taking the time to return to the classroom. Does going back matter? You bet it does!!! I have loved the experience.