Educators engage in professional learning.
During my EDUC 491 10 week practicum, I was lucky to be involved in a variety of professional learning opportunities which manifested several forms. I attended several staff meetings which included the entire staff populous, multiple English department meetings, as well as a meeting with a group of teachers working through a selection of readings focused on current events and reconciliation. Additionally, I was able to be involved in Parent/Teacher night, a meeting with a student’s Social Worker, and a meeting with a student’s mother in order to update the student’s IEP following some medical testing which the student had undergone recently. Given that each of these more nuanced situations (in the sense of professional development) were my first encounters with each experience, I regarded each of them as both an opportunity to engage in the involvement of family and community (honoring the first FPPL) as well as a personal opportunity to grow in my proficiency of hosting each meeting on my own as a professional.
Something that I have noted to be extremely beneficial for myself when it comes to professional learning and development, is the ability to collaborate on ideas and experiences with like minded, open-minded, or encouraging colleagues. I think this is because the field of education is one which represents an extremely diverse “umbrella” of profoundly valuable approaches. As a new Teaching professional, it is very important to me not to overstep the validity of what exists, with my own understanding of the things I have been taught, and the observations I have made in the admittedly small amount of experience I have had. On the other hand, I also do need to recognize the legitimacy and validity of my own knowledge and education. This creates a delicate ebb and flow which I have a high degree of personal desire to navigate respectfully, which in my case has often resulted in the omission of my own ideas in favor of instruction for performance, or my understanding of what I am expected to do.
During the professional learning opportunities I was able to participate in during 491, I was able to very gently test the metaphorical space in which I existed as colleague in respect to the other professionals I was collaborating with. Because larger meetings were often held in table group format, and because department meetings were much smaller in attendance and therefore operated in a similar singular group way, the opportunity for collaboration increased by orders of magnitude simply because of the availability for a variety of discussions in a single space. I found these experiences to be extremely motivating as I found several instances where I felt the expectation for my own ideas to be contributed was equal to the rest of those contributing. What I mean by that is that the colleagues I was speaking to were asking for my thoughts, actually considering them, and responding with either encouragement or their perspective on how it might be bettered.
I think for myself as a professional, I want to maintain a growth mindset and associate with colleagues and peers with a similar approach; Not seeking to replace the ideas of others, but rather offer ways to enrich them where they exist. I think it is incredibly important to remember that in the same way that we are not trying to create classrooms of identical students, we as teachers are also not trying to navigate to a profession where our pedagogies and praxes are all identical. And, I think the best way to avoid falling into that trap is to constantly remind ourselves that while certain approaches may not be what we would do, they may still be highly effective when performed by other professionals. This all, obviously, excludes instances of clear ethical violation or duty to report. The core of what I have learned from my experiences thus far is that every professional has something to contribute to our individual toolbox, but none of those things should be at the expense of our own proficiencies.