Wendy Bishop's chair's address is an interesting read. A plea for active involvement as a part of a community of educators. I am not very good about this. I participate well enough as a member of an academic community when I am a student in a class, but otherwise, I tend to hole up in my classroom and hunker down trying to survive the workload.
I have brought a great deal on myself, and I know we're all busy in our different ways, but I have to wonder about my sanity when I consider that this school year, in addition to my full time teaching, I have accepted a position as head of the school literacy program, made the requisite entry into one of the school's RTI teams (gifted and talented in my case), continued to coach matchwits and establish a drama program (this will be the first year ever that the drama "club" at PHS does more than one production), began this Masters program because I will be capped at under $32K for life in this district if I don't get more education, and took on a second job as a weekend cash manager at a local Carmike Cinemas location in order to pay for school, save for a second car so my poor housebound wife can leave the house during the day, and gather funds to pay for the expenses associated with the coming of our third child, Miriam Isolde, now on her way.
Why bring all of this up? Because as nice as it would be, and as appropriate as it would be, theoretically and professionally to attend conferences in my discipline, conferences in general educational practices, subscribe to and read educational journals, and engage in more meaningful interactions with the faculty and community of Peyton High School, if I do anything else I think my head may explode. The idea of participating in professional conferences is wonderful, and I find the Masters classes as intellectually stimulating as the work is physically draining, but I honestly believe that it is a near miracle that in my sleep deprived state last year I survived driving an hour to and from work each day and an additional three hours a week making back and forth trips to Pueblo for class. I found myself nearly asleep and literally drifting around on the road far too many times for comfort.
Given that all of this is confronting me, what benefit of increased collegiality/professional involvement could possibly make up for a few hours of sleep or a few guilt riddled moments of physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted relaxation, normally grabbed while eating or taking care of other primal necessities before launching oneself at the next mountain of papers or reading?
In an ideal world I would love to get involved more. To attend conferences, to have time to pursue intellectual research and etc. of my own volition into topics that might improve my teaching/understanding of my material, but I barely keep my head above water doing just what is required to get the grading done, the assignments for class finished and the other activities functioning at an acceptable level. While I recognize that the few and far between interactions with my colleagues are invigorating, and the professional discourse is key to improving and developing my skills as an educator, I literally don't have time in the twenty-four hour day to engage in this kind of stuff. Not to mention the fact that membership in professional organizations, going to conferences, and subscribing to journals all require money, something else that is in short supply.
I wish that I had an easy enough time to put such personal professional items at a high enough priority to feel other than guilty or resentful when reading this speech. I don't.
Scott, Although I responded, in part, as you did and pointed out the near impossibility of most first year teachers in finding either time or money, I know that once we are through the master's program, we hope we will have more of both resources, and conferences might be more feasible.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Bishop's intent was to point out that Comp and Literature are both important elements of an English department and that, in fact, they blend into and complement each other. I think her purpose in encouraging the members to be active in the conferences was to get them to associate with colleagues in the field so that they don't feel like the neglected stepchild, and that's good advice, even if we aren't able to act on it now.
Your voice is lound and clear. I feel your frustration. I, however, responded to Bishop in a different tone. I have had the opportunity to attend the 2001 NCTE conference in Baltimore. However, I did not pay for it, the district did. But, I had to do a lot of foot-work, wheeling and dealing at building level and district level to obtain funds. Please don't think I am tooting my own horn because that is not the case. My district by no means is wealthy; never has been, never will be. My point is, in order to take advantage of professional discourse to grow as an educator, you need to take and make the time to search.
ReplyDeleteA lot of opportunities to communicate with "our kind" is available in building, in district, in state. Building level PD is beneficial, district level PD is sometimes beneficial, and state confrences are always beneficial and a day or two long. I know that is easier said than done with the full plates we all have; but the bottom line is we need to communicate with each other in order to have support, praise, and guidance, and new ideas. Why not use this class not only for the graduate value (and pay increase - I hear ya'), but also to grow as teachers and educators? This is where we make the connections to support each other, because nobody understands a high school Language Arts teacher better than another high school Language Arts teacher. I think that is what Bishop is trying to communicate; the value of communication. Hang in there, Scott.