Take the Time

Teachers across Canada have been getting some negative press lately. Teachers in BC, Ontario and Saskatchewan have faced challenges trying to improve teaching and learning conditions and negotiating contracts over the last year and have been subjected to a lot of public criticism. In Alberta, teachers have been blamed for the breakdown in negotiations with the government and Alberta School Boards Association. To punish teachers for ending negotiations (after the teachers' offer was turned down by the premier Nov. 30) the Minister of Education has brought up the ideas of legislating contracts and merit pay.
Despite this media attention I find that many teachers are not fully informed about the issues. I think that it is very important for teachers to be a source of information for the public. Teachers should be sharing their perspectives with parents, friends & family but to do so they need to be fully informed. This is a major challenge in our profession.
The Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) website is a great source for information about teaching and education as well as current news items and it still publishes a hard copy of the ATA News and ATA Magazine for teachers. The ATA and many ATA Locals are also active on twitter and Facebook.
As the communications director for the Teachers' Convention in my area, and a former communications officer for my ATA Local, I have struggled for many years trying to ensure that teachers are informed. I have tried email, websites and social media to reach member teachers but none of those is as effective as a face-to-face conversation.
When I first started teaching I remember having more opportunities to have these conversations with other teachers, which I believe has made me a better teacher. Teachers would be in the staffroom before and after school and at lunch, talking and sharing ideas. I rarely make it to the staffroom anymore and from what I hear neither do the other teachers. Now that I have a family I use every free moment I have at school completing work (which also seems to have increased). Because of student busing issues we also only have a 20 minute lunch break (if we don't have lunch supervision) and only two four minute breaks throughout the day, hardly time to engage in any sort of discussion.
Teachers face a conundrum. We have no time to share and discuss but the only way we are going to change that is to share and discuss. Teachers need to take every opportunity they have to inform themselves and share with others.
That is one of the reasons I am so appreciative of professional development (PD) days. They are a rare opportunity for these face-to-face conversations to take place. I am fortunate to be attending one PD day a week this month culminating with two days of Teachers' Convention March 7 & 8. During these days I plan on trying to engage as many teachers as I can in conversations about teaching and education. What opportunities will you have? Will you take the time?