not storming the castle

There are so many issues I could respond to from this book, and I hope that all of you feel the same way. Keeping in mind our discussion a few weeks ago when we brainstormed potential reading topics for the semester, what strikes me in rereading Tensions & Triumphs is Erin's situation. In many ways it parallels some of the frustrations several of you expressed about your internship settings. A big difference, though, is that Erin chose her position, even though in retrospect she realized that she had been feeling misgivings during the job interview. You didn't seek out your particular PDS placements.

Still, no matter how amazing the schools you interview for positions in appear to be during the job hunt, there are going to be underlying difficult situations you'll all have to cope with. It's the nature of the beast. No matter how carefully you set your "political radar," you're not going to pick up on everything. You can't until you're actually in the school on a daily basis. By then, you need to decide how you're going to cope. That's where I find Tensions & Triumphs most useful, because it gives specific ways you can help yourselves as new teachers and specific ways other teachers and administrators can help.

Chapter 7 is key for me, especially at the end when it says, "New teachers can open doors to dialogue and can contribute to creating positive experiences for themselves and others. We don't recommend storming the gates, but we do know that, through quiet example that becomes respectfully louder and louder, new teachers can effect change from their very first days in the classroom." I love that concept of opening dialogue and working in small ways that then expand out into larger implications, potentially for the entire school. I think there are certain situations where you just plain need to get out of the school to save your sanity-- I've been in one of those situations, and it's not pretty. Most of the time, though, you create the environment you really want to teach in through, for lack of a better word, infiltration. Teachers listen to insiders. They take them seriously. If you're teaching in the best ways you know how (without beating yourself up for not being perfect-- see Chapter 5 and the being perfect disease) and working hard to keep growing professionally, other teachers notice. I think it's significant that several of the authors of this book were voted teacher of the year in their buildings. I'm sure they didn't campaign for that, and I'm sure they didn't bust into department meetings saying, "You guys are all wrong-- here, let me fix you." Change happens gradually, and it happens when you're part of a community that values and trusts you.

Here's something to think about and possibly respond to: All of you are getting ready to write up the results of your action research and present them in April. How might your action research effect change in teaching within your school placements? Also, if you were hired at your PDS, how might you effect changes that would counteract some of the things several of you were unhappy with during your internships? Naming problems is important; now take the next step, at least hypothetically.

One other logistical note: I put all of you as authors for this blog. I think what will be most helpful as we move through this semester is for everyone to post brief (300-500 word) responses to the reading and then we can respond to one another's comments and let thinking branch off as it wants to. I don't want this to be a "Dr. Benson is the only one posing scenarios and questions" situation. Since we aren't going to be able to meet face to face regularly, it seems like responses and responses to the responses is a way to get discussion going.