As I indicated in a previous post, one thing that is very
important to me as a pre-service teacher is to feel as though I’m training to
join a community of professionals. Without going too far into my rant on this
topic, I believe that, in general, far too little credit is given to teachers
in this country and it a goal of mine to elevate the teaching profession toward
the status that it deserves. I feel very fortunate to be studying at a school
whose Dean is a leader in this discussion on an international stage, and I am
lucky to be surrounded by many who see teaching as truly intellectual work.
In
addition to those like-minded individuals I have found here in GSE, I am also excited for the opportunities I have
to feel like part of a larger network of teaching professionals. Within the
last week I was able to attend both a meeting of one of Philadelphia’s wonderful
teacher networks (the Philadelphia Teachers’ Learning Cooperative) as well as
the National Science Teachers’ Association area conference. In both of these
situations I found my pen could hardly keep up with the suggestions and
observations I wanted to be sure not to forget and I was humbled by the
commitment these long-term teachers have to both improving their own practice,
as well as supporting others’ development. The tremendous degree of the
collaboration, resource sharing, and overall enthusiasm of other educators was
inspiring, and I am proud to be joining their ranks.
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| NSTA Conference Exhibit Hall Butterflies |
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