Our
district recently held one of several teacher in-service days; intended to
promote better teaching, provide educators and staff with support regarding
state and district requirements for students and teachers, as well as to increase
awareness of the most up-to-date teaching methods and classroom procedures. In
theory, this sounds like a brilliant idea. When I think about the many ways that
this allotted time could be valuable beyond measure, I have to ask why any good
teacher wouldn’t want to participate. However, the unfortunate truth, at least
from what I have experienced within my district, is that the majority of
teachers and staff find these required gatherings less than adequate and
certainly not pleasurable. The most significant impact of these meetings is
certainly observable over the days following an in-service, as the events are
retold by frustrated teacher. Those staff lounge water coolers inevitably get
an earful from just about every unhappy participant.
1. The in-services are not applicable to the audience. This is due to one of two reasons:
1. The in-services are not applicable to the audience. This is due to one of two reasons:
· The presentation is geared to the wrong grade range, i.e. presenting strategies that would work well in a middle school to high school teachers.
· The information presented is not current with today’s changing classrooms or simply does not address the problems that teachers at a particular school are experiencing.
2. The teachers feel as though they are treated like children instead of mutually the invested educators that they are.
Just
as our classroom lessons should be designed specifically with our students’
needs in mind, the in-services that we attend should also focus on our local
issues, questions, and interests as educators. This blog is not about bashing
any particular school district for a poorly designed in-service, so I it is
irrelevant why teachers in my district are unhappy with this activity. Instead,
what I would like to know is how these meetings can be made more meaningful and
engaging in the future. What other districts are pulling it off and how are
they doing this? As educators and staff, what information would best help you?
In
larger districts like my own, I think that introducing the work-shop experience
into the in-services could be a great way for teachers to interact
interdepartmentally as well as with teachers from other schools. If we focused
more on being a community with a single goal in mind and are given the
opportunity to participate in planning the in-services, more teachers and staff
members would appreciate and even eagerly participate this ritual as an
important part of teacher education.
In
their article, Characteristics of Success in High School In-service Education,
William Patton and Leo Anglin describe experiences from several different high
schools who participated in a study on ways to improve the in-service experience.
One such school created a central theme in which to guide the in-services. “Nothing
will be done to you—only with you,” became the foundation of both the planning
processes and the in-service sessions. According to Patton and Anglin, teachers
were encouraged to participate directly alongside university personnel in the
formal planning sessions. The purpose of this collaboration was to create
accountability among those in charge of planning and encourage educator/personnel
partnerships. This
project was based on a model developed by John Elliott, a British educator, in
1976. The major features of the approach were:
1. Focusing on practical problems defined by the teachers
2. Developing collaborative relations between teachers and outsiders
As a pre-student teacher, I am very comfortable with
collaborative working environments and actually enjoy having that interaction. Of
course, not very person that I work with is a perfect personality match, but
when our focus is on our students and not on each other, we are able to put our
differences aside and create something better than either one of us could have
thought up on our own. So, when I consider the inadequacy of my local
in-service sessions, I have to ask how we have missed an idea that is more than
30 years old, and what we can do about it. Please comment with any suggestions,
ideas, or thoughts on your own local in-services. I’d like to know what makes
them work or what you think would make them work better.
To view Patton and
Anglin’s journal article, please click on the following link:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40365055?uid=3739672&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104590915127
I, too, have found teachers to have a distaste for inservice days. Having never sat through an entire one myself, I wonder why it is that they are so dreaded. Most teachers usually complain that they wish they could just be given a work day to catch up on grading and prep work instead of inservices. Similar to your findings, I have observed some other problems teachers have with inservice days. First, that they are used to discuss things that don't pertain to everyone present (such as informational insurance or union presentations). Second, that they feel that the district is trying to legitimize giving the students a day off, so they fill the day with random, often "meaningless" activities. I have never seen a teacher who is excited about an inservice day.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much pull teachers have in planning inservices. Can we suggest issues or activities to bring up during our time together, or is it left up to administration? I have heard that some teachers prefer not to suggest things because the administration will leave it in their hands to plan, and they would rather put up with a boring inservice than have another thing on their plate. Understandable. But, ultimately I believe you are absolutely right; why not plan an inservice that is meaningful to all staff members who are involved? It certainly wouldn't hurt anything.
Thanks for this conversation, Megan and Lindsay! I've never had anyone address inservice days in these blog posts, and I appreciate the level of professionalism you both demonstrate. I love the idea of collaboratively designed/planned inservice days, that allow for interaction and collaboration among teachers. I can envision using Google Drive (forms, docs, etc.) to allow multiple perspectives to be considered in the creation and delivery of such workshops, ones that would hopefully allow more teachers to feel invested in the process and the potential learning. Thanks for your conversation!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I actually have not experienced an inservice meeting yet. This is primarily because they every CT I've had basically stated that they did not think it was something they thought I would benefit from. It's usually been stated more subtly than this though. Something like "Oh, they don't want you to go to inservice do you?". No matter what I responded to this, I got the feeling that I would be some sort of goody good if I would have actually attended.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about it directly, but there is a huge amount of negativity surrounding inservice. I think I need to make sure and check out the next one, if only just to figure out why the heck this is. Somebody's gotta be doing something wrong to cause a great mass of teachers to roll their eyes in unison, right? I'll get back to you.