Revitalizng the Veteran Teacher

Revitalizing the Veteran Teacher Or, No Teacher Left Behind? Peter Gow NAIS 2009

Some observations
The dumb-bell demographic: lots of older teachers--50+, lots of younger teachers--<30
Senior faculty compensated as valuable asset; too expensive to waste (which puts pressure on the system in hard times)
By no means does every veteran teacher need revitalizing!
2/26/2009 Veteran Teachers/Gow/NAIS 09

Baby Boomers (born 1945-64) Some characteristics

Some Boomer attributes
Flexible
Goal-oriented
Focus on individual choices and freedom
Adaptive to a diverse workplace
Positive attitude
(from ValueOptions.com)

Boomer work styles
Confident in their work--but the tasks keep changing
Like working in teams--but schools tend to isolate
Like collaborative decision-making --short-circuited by more top-down management
Conflict averse--SUCH a two-way street!
(from ValueOptions.com)

The changes we’ve seen
Rights and liberation movements  multiculturalism  globalization (post-racial?)
computer programming  Web 2.0
teacher-centered  student-centered
peace/boom  war/bust
College pressures greater

Added pressures
Many of us thought we wouldn’t live to see the 21st century--nuclear anxiety (“I’m amazed to have made it this far”)
Repudiation of our parents’ ways had a cost (but we’ve made ourselves feel better by shopping)
Lately there have been some extra financial anxieties (“What’d I do to deserve this?”)

The Failing Teacher Symptomatology & Etiology

What does fading look like?
Active disaffection, anger
Withdrawal into sad corners
“ Work to rule”
Clinging to/extravagantly defending students (paradox)
Dismissive of students (and colleagues)
“ The school going to hell”

Most likely to have succeeded--to a point (but maybe for the wrong reasons)
Gadfly--puckish wit, sharp observer, hip cynicism
Charismatic--cool once or maybe still, hazy on the boundaries
Old School--straight ahead, iron discipline, awesome inflexibility

WHY? Let’s face it
The 70s, 80s, and early 90s were not exactly the era of great teacher evaluation
Bad habits persisted; “value the individual”
Professional development seen as forced or irrelevant (and it often was)

Challenge: Successive waves of change
Diversity and multiculturalism
Technology 1.0
“ Authentic Assessment”
“ Learning differences”
Globalization
Technology 2.0

Bigger challenge: Autonomy/isolation
Meet each “wave of change” on your own
Little accountability
Little holistic thinking on an institutional level
We’re all trying to build and sustain an elephant based on incomplete data from our own narrow viewpoint

Management ideas

Institutional issues
Find the balance between
Serving the kids and the program of today well AND acknowledging past good service
Enacting necessary change AND making the process of change humane

What doesn’t help
Too many top-down initiatives
Individually focused, opt-outable professional development program
Not confronting the issue directly; the passive-aggressive work-around
Hoping for change/retirement
Creating “the Undead”—they’ve been judged, put in a box, and now they are treated with averted eyes

What can help
Acknowledge
Investigate
Empathize
Adjust
Set goals
(Set free)
Celebrate

Adjust?
Assignments/responsibilities
Not fewer, but different
Workload, schedule
Not less, but different
Location
Team/cohort
Special projects

If the cause is lost
Be clear about the process
Enlist the teacher in planning an exit strategy
Find authentic ways to acknowledge past value
Support with career or other counseling
Resist blame and guilt

Preventive strategies (financial)
Invest in employees’ lives: salary, benefits (tuition remission as “stock options”)
Intentional, exciting professional development program
Reward great work
Offer financial planning support
A good and well understood Employee Assistance Plan
(A designated H.R. function)

Preventive strategies (cultural)
Transparent and forthright school culture
Express interest in employees and their needs--normalize vicissitudes of adult life and support balance
Help faculty invest in school--board committee work, leadership roles where earned
Consistent evaluation
Recognize great work

Preventive strategies (pedagogical)
Use mentoring to promote investment in the school and connect with new colleagues
Make collaboration essential--team planning, team teaching, interdisciplinary teaching
Encourage and reward innovation
Consider exchange/travel programs (e.g., Fulbright, Network of Complementary Schools)
Make “legacy” (long-term) teaching portfolios part of professional development
(from Peter Seldin, Pace University)

Some case studies Can this teacher be saved?

Color-blind Derek
At the school for 22 years, was department chair until replaced by a younger colleague in 2001
Fell afoul of P.C. police in late 90s for claim of “color-blindness”
Has been slow to adopt new ideas in general

Jane, unplugged
24 years in the school; 38 years in the classroom
Most beloved teacher among alums
Proclaims she just doesn’t understand computers
One-to-one laptop initiative starts next year

Sinkin’ Duncan
Career-changer at 45, now in year 10 at the school
2 kids, one in college and one just out and living at home
Parents live on the other coast, Mom just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

Thanks to
Ezra Adams, Tom Daccord, Debi Ellman, Karen Fairbank, Mimi Harrington, Harry Hart, Bob Irving, Bill Ivey, Kathleen Jordan, Curt Lieneck, David Mallery, Luann Lee, Mike Salmon, Elizabeth Sky-McIlvain, Delores Smith, Amy Ward, Anne Macleod Weeks, Glen Westbroek, David Withrow, Teacher X
Peter Seldin, “’Tired’ Professors Can Be Rejuvenated,” The Chronicle , 7 March 2008

Revitalizng the Veteran Teacher

by Peter Gow

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 9

Statistics

Revitalizng the Veteran Teacher Presentation Transcript

http://www.slideshare.net	5
http://principalkathys.blogspot.com	3
http://wildfire.gigya.com	1