Fawn Nguyen once wrote a blog post called “Be Brave or Be Desperate.” You can read it here. To summarize, she was asked the question “why do you present?” She considers herself a storyteller of her students’ successes and failures. Fawn stresses how important it is to get the story correct. Her friend in turn replies that Fawn is brave. This blog post has been on my mind since I read it a few years ago. I’ve pondered this same question myself as I’ve many answers. Why do any of us present?
As for my “why”, I have been a teacher for 25 years and have been in the audience of a multitude of professional development sessions. Many of these have sucked the fun out of math (and teaching for that matter). I found it hard to “buy in” to whomever or whatever was in front of me because the presentation was boring, bland, and not engaging. I would go to the bathroom and see principals on their phones/computers. Admin doesn’t expect teachers to just lecture every lesson……so why do we endure PD that models the very thing they don’t want teachers to do? (I vowed that I would be the antithesis of this).
Secondly, I also got tired of this very same thing when I went to conferences. Teachers/districts pay very good money to develop their own professional practice by attending local, state, and national conferences. Their time is precious. These teachers have trusted the presenters to give them solid information that will help their own teaching practice.
Lastly, my students deserve for me to tell their story. And when I learn about something that works in my classroom…then why not spread the word? Imagine the level of impact when something I shared gets picked up by other teachers. My classroom becomes bigger than just the 4 walls I teach in. Instead of just 32 students, my classroom grows exponentially…..and there’s an awesomeness to how one idea can affect so many.
Until next time,
Kristen