I Have Arrived

I arrived on Sunday not only into my internship destination, but into an educator's worst fear: professional development planning.

Most teachers fear professional development because of its tendency to make us vulnerable and require us to see ourselves in a way in which we aren't in control. Not that I don't like what most call PD, but this time I would be experiencing the trifecta of PD fears: naive teachers, foreign country, no internet.

In Belize, teaching as profession is just starting to bloom.  As much as teachers groan about the Praxis, or student teaching, there is a method in that madness.  Teaching doesn't often get the recognition it deserves because so many confuse training with education.  And believe me, there are teachers who aren't teachers, but are trainers.  How would I respect the experience and expertise that comes with being in the trenches, but still compel them to apply my strategies?  In reviewing my lesson plan after checking in, I was reminded that Chip and Dan Heath (2008) developed a process for determining why certain ideas adhere to our psyche while others fall to the side. Their appeals, which summon simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotion, and story-telling as the skeleton upon which ideas are held up, would guide me through making sure that my professional development would be implemented.

Overcoming a language barrier wouldn't be an issue: with my pasty white skin I cannot wash the America off, and the locals graciously accommodated me with their English.  I was actually disappointed because I was looking forward to struggling through my four years of Spanish training in college.  However, I would still need to overcome a cultural barrier.  Would I be perceived as just another white American telling a foreign country what to do?  How could I establish professional trust when teachers might not perceive themselves as professionals?  Dee Fink (2013) reminds me that creating content should be about helping students care about learning.  I would have to make my fellow teachers care about their students success not just in their class, but in other classes.  I decided since the majority of my participants were teachers who taught many subjects, I would emphasize the cross-curricular aspects of teaching.  The article I chose from Newsela.com about King Tut's tomb was perfect to highlight the crossover in math, science, history, and language arts.  I hoped these teachers would be able to help their students care about history so that they can, in turn, care about their other subjects too.

Lack of internet would be the greatest barrier to overcome.  When I learned that the Internet was spotty at best, I didn't quite know how to show them digital strategies I would rave about.  Good teaching would speak for itself, and so instead of fancy websites, I honed in on the strategies themselves, practicing low-tech but noting the high-tech equivalencies.

As I contacted my colleagues of my arrival, many were jealous because they had to start back with lesson planning, digital content construction, and advising graduates for transfer to four-year universities.  I hadn't just arrived on an island, but I had arrived in a place of readiness.  After years of presenting at state and local professional development sessions, I was grateful for the tough love my colleagues had given me over the years.  I felt the sense of professional community that Baran and Correia (2014) so adamantly assert is necessary in higher education.  Peer observation, they note, is a strong component of a learning community; at my current job, observations are embedded in the English department.  My peers have been wonderful about collaborating on even the most challenging instructional woes.  I am happy that my critical friends pushed me to become better at professional development, and hopefully the teachers in Belize can benefit.

References
Baran, E. & Correia, A. (2014). A professional development framework for online teaching. TechTrends. 58(5), 95-101.
Fink, D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2008). Made to stick: why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck. London: Arrow Books.