Amen, Judy, but this is not always the doing of coaches. Sometimes it is the administrative pushing for mentoring vs. coaching. I see a need for both, but some at the admin level see it as synonymous--pushing towards working only with the new staff.
On 9/28/08 8:27 AM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've saved all of your posts and have reread this one several times. I've > reflected deeply on the sentiment that some of you are trying to move teachers > in a direction they don't want to travel...and I've tried not to let your > posts bother me. But now, LOL, I can't stand it anymore and I'm going to tell > you why they do. > > As a teacher who WANTS with all her heart to teach deeply and to the highest > of expectations, I am bothered that our coaches think I need no help. All > coaching help goes to the new teachers. I find this sad for two reasons: > first, I want to improve. > > Secondly, the help that is going to our new teachers is not deep. Believe me, > our new teachers are hard-working, but the standard in my district is high and > they're swimming as fast as they can just to survive day-to-day. We have 2 > brand new teachers (of 4) at my grade level. I've put in a lot of time > helping them and I believe they're just not ready for deep thinking as they > don't know anything about teaching reading. Perhaps Ellin will say that ALL > teachers can start off with comprehension strategies on day #1, but it seems > to me these darling new teachers need some foundation in the more tangible > aspects (like decoding, fluency, and surface/literal comprehension). It seems > to me that they just don't have enough understanding of the reading process to > be ready for the really tough stuff. I hope you'll say I'm wrong and that > they can do it all, but I wonder.... > > Judy > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: Steve Mabry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> HI all! >> >> I am intrigued by the final question for our first reading. >> >> ....In what ways can we live our adult lives as intellectually curious >> leaders >> for our students and for our colleagues? >> >> I can't tell you how many nights I stayed up thinking - why didn't my >> teachers >> get it? Why don't they want to help their students - to move them beyond the >> expected curriculum and into differentiation and individualization and >> understanding? Why they didn't have an internal drive and motivation to >> replicate what Ellin and Debbie and everyone was writing about and modeling >> in >> their books? I modeled the ideas and goals at faculty meetings and in our >> weekly newsletters by both taking pictures of the activities and usage of the >> strategies in classes and including snapshots and ideas from the books >> themselves. >> >> But I could not motivate the teachers who were in the "been there done that" >> mode. They made fun of the teachers who were taking leaps. They got >> extremely >> cliquey. It was just so depressing! What kept me going was the fact that I >> knew what I was writing/talking/modeling was right for both the teacher and >> the >> students. >> >> So....to answer the question - by modeling, blogging, dicsussing, showing how >> to >> never stop learning...our actions speak louder than words. The sad thing is >> that there are so many of us who are isolated islands of application. The >> good >> thing is that there are places like this where the isolated islands can find >> refuge, mentorship, and relief. >> >> But how to be there for our colleagues? I think they have to be ready first. >> >> I obviously never figured out the answer to that one! >> Lori >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Understand mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Understand mailing list > [email protected] > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org -- Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach & Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 57555 http:www.tcsdk12.org ph. 605.856.2211 Literacies for All Summer Institute July 17-20. 2008 Tucson, Arizona _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
