Dear Editor,
I would like to address the issue of early release Tuesdays in the Green Mountain Union School District. As a parent of two CTES graduates, I have navigated early release for nine years. We know the scheduling difficulties between work, school, and extra-curricular activities firsthand. But I didn’t send my kids to school for childcare, and I don’t think that is why you send yours.
We demand that our schools provide the best education to our communities’ children. We must also provide our schoolteachers and staff with the right type of professional learning and team building time so they can meet that goal – the best education for each child.
Any parent knows that kids change from day to day. What a teacher learns at intermittent conferences is useful, but problem solving in real time to do the deep work about our children and their peers’ learning is invaluable.
Weekly professional learning time allows for continuity. Take reading for example – one-week teachers and staff look deeply at reading scores, and the plans they make are implemented within a week. They circle back weekly to modify as needed, based on what is working. When they look at scores again, they can directly pinpoint things what worked, and what didn’t.
Weekly embedded time allows staff to build cohesion, which in turn provides wrap around support for students. Together, staff can address an entire family, making sure that each sibling receives what they need. They support each other, creating or practicing words and methods to use with students in particular situations. They problem solve together for kids who are struggling emotionally – and they can address those kids in the classroom, in the lunch line, on the playground, and in specials like art, music, and PE. Many minds working together provides many great options for kids when they need it, not months later.
Did you know that our elementary schools are currently being asked to complete eight different initiatives? Embedded Professional Learning time once a week makes this daunting task workable and makes it possible for these approaches to be implemented for all learners. Any job that asks its workers to implement new ideas must provide sufficient time for learning, planning, implementation, and evaluation. How many of us have been frustrated when asked to learn an entire new system at work, while continuing to meet existing production goals? Why would we ask schools to do what we know doesn’t work, especially when they are working with our kids?
Finally, a natural byproduct of weekly Professional Learning time are the deep and meaningful relationships built between staff and teachers. A healthy, positive work environment is essential for all workers, no less for those who work with our children. I want my kids attending school with staff that feels good about their job, supported in their mission, and part of the community to which we all release our kids when they grow up.
Please take some time to review this presentation on the benefits of embedded professional learning time in our schools. Work together as a community to come up with abundant high-quality childcare for kids during non-school hours. Don’t ask teachers do both.
www.docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zuPNdwhE_4MrGQoNiKFq7rdi1_ziPd7IAlmtaUcsxbI/edit#slide=id.p.
Sincerely,
Sara Stowell
Proctorsville, Vt.