Pencil in Some PLN Time into Your Schedule!

It’s a point in your career that I hope every educator reaches….the day when you stop thinking of professional learning as something that is assigned to you based upon what administrators or organizations think you need, and instead, as something that you seek out, willingly, eagerly, to devour in all of its glorious forms.

My PLN journey began in earnest several years ago when I realized that summers were the perfect time to get re-fueled with inspiration, ideas, and to get a head-start on the year ahead.  I devoured every workshop, webinar, and online course I could get my hands on.  I love learning anyway, and summers freed me to take things at my own pace, when and where was most convenient to me.  It’s not that I didn’t do summery-things. I did, but if I went fishing or to the beach, I had a book with me that was related to my profession.  If I spent time on Pinterest, or Twitter, or something similar, I was adding to my professional network and growing depository of ideas.  I yearned for summer, not because it was time off from my job, but instead it was time to dive in!  Through my summertime efforts, I felt more connected to my profession, confident that I was up to date on the latest trends, and eager to put them into practice when the school year began!

My challenge has been to sustain my summer time blitz with an ongoing approach to professional learning all year long.  It’s not that I stop cold-turkey, but my PLN gets sporadic attention at best.  To find some balance, my plan will be to set a realistic schedule to accommodate PLN activities during the school year.  I’m penciling in PLN time to my schedule and looking for activities which bring me enjoyment and professional fulfillment.  For instance, Monday evenings will be reserved for an on-going Twitter chat (#InspirEdMobChat) that I always enjoy.  Tuesday nights at the gym will serve double duty as a time to listen to a podcast from the Cult of Pedagogy.  Friday evenings before bed are my Twitter feed and Pinterest times, while I will set aside time on Saturday mornings to monitor RSS feeds and to catch up on certain blogs. 

PLN offerings in education are like an all-you-can-eat buffet, and my goal will be to consume a balanced diet of activities which will help me to grow as an educator and teacher leader.  I have created a Symbaloo webmix for professional development that has links to all my favorite resources that make it easy to navigate to them.  I will use my blog to share with my colleagues what I am finding and to facilitate on-going discussion about what they’re learning as well.  I will also request that our faculty reconvene a professional development committee that can teach our faculty about PLN offerings both locally and nationally. 

So, what are you penciling in?  What are some of your go-to PLN activities?  Share so that we can all keep adding to our PLN and sharing the love of teaching!

Just Say "YES!" to Hosting a Student Teacher

This is the time of year when your local college or university reaches out to ask for your help in hosting a student teacher for the following year.  I've recently detected a slight sense of desperation on the part of the placement coordinators, who seem to always have more students than cooperating teachers willing to host them.  Honestly, I've known a fair share of teachers who have groaned at the prospect of hosting a student teacher. Maybe it's because they've hosted a student teacher who wasn't quite up to par.  Others might be put off by the paperwork, required observations, and loss of teaching time. But probably most of all these teachers realize that hosting a student teacher is not easy.  If done right, it's actually quite a bit of work on the cooperating teacher's part. All the more reason to host one, I say!  I've been quite fortunate to have had some very good student teachers.  Here are a few things I've discovered from my experiences hosting student teachers. 

The key to developing a good relationship with your student teacher is to be willing to give up some control of your classroom. This is not the easiest thing to do for many teachers. However, to give the student teacher the most effective experience, they need to have the sense that you trust them enough to fully take control of the classroom as appropriate.  Be sure to include them from the very beginning. The students need to see them as co-partners or co-teachers in the classroom. The last thing you want is for several weeks to go by before the students even hear the student teacher speak.

The best thing that you can do for your student teacher is to be honest with them, to show them the reality of teaching, and to give them a chance to get comfortable with the classroom. Explain to them why you do something. They may have a difference of opinion, and they very well may be thinking to themselves that they will do it differently when they have their own classroom, but tell them your rationale.  Ask them for ideas, and put aside any sense of being territorial. 

Think back to what you may have needed as a student teacher. Weren't you most fulfilled when you felt like you had a purpose and were given some responsibility in the classroom? Isn't student teaching supposed to prepare you for having a classroom of your own? Do right by your student teacher by giving them as much responsibility as you're willing to give. Sure, they may not be as skilled as you, and their teaching schedule may put you behind in your own pacing guide.  But in the end, it's all going to work out alright.  I've not had a situation yet where my students in any way suffered because of a student teacher.

Remember, to develop this profession we need to make sure that we are developing new teachers. If you consider yourself to be a good teacher, then you owe it to your colleagues and your students to play a part in ensuring a continual flow of ready and willing educators to continue what you've started.  Just say "Yes!"