As I enter a new season of my professional career, I don’t really know what my classroom will look like next year. I know that my “students” in the fall won’t be adolescents learning English, but their teachers, which is simultaneously terrifying and exciting. As anyone who has led any type of staff or professional development can attest… teachers are sometimes your worst students. And yet, as I reflect on my summer externship so far, two connections stick out as I think about what I’ve learned this summer and its impact on my new “classroom”.

Model the model – Good teaching is good teaching, no matter the “student”.

The power of collaboration

This externship has been one inspiration after another. So much so that I’ve struggled writing this post because of the hurricane of great ideas in my mind right now.  It’s hard to know where to start.

• Do I hope the project I create for Home Base will be useful to teachers and benefit their students?  Yes.
• Am I ecstatic to show teachers, administrators, and PBIS committee members the awesomeness that Class Dojo could be?  Yes.
• Do I pray that the lessons of data literacy will empower the data-disgusted and overwhelmed teachers in my building?  Yes.
  

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Model the Model

But my primary curriculum next year will be the NC Professional Teaching Standards.  So the connections I keep coming back to are model the model and collaborate.  Eight days as a participant and two days as a presenter of professional development this summer have been my spring training for my new role as a curriculum and instructional coach in the fall.  The experience has brought back to mind the sage advice I received about modeling the model.  If I want teachers to walk away from a training and take it back to their classrooms, then I have to present in a way that is easily adaptable to the classroom.  The gradual release process (I do, we do, you do) works just as well in staff development as it does in the classroom. Coaching and practice and application time are critical components of effective staff development, and we saw this during the Institutes we attended this summer.

The Power of Collaboration

I’ve been inspired by the other Kenan fellows in the class of 2014, the presenters of Professional Development Institutes, and my mentor team.  What a joy it has been to have time to learn from teachers at all levels from across the state.  I am awed and inspired by the wealth of knowledge that the Kenan Fellows team has brought together.  My Kenan project is going the direction that it is and using tools that would have not have been possible without the collaboration that I’ve been a part of this summer.

So thank you.  I can’t wait for Opening Day on my new season.