When the general public is talking about teachers, one complaint that you’ll often hear is that those in education have too many days off. It seems like every other week my kid has a day off, a half day, or a late start. Teachers have it so easy; I wish my job had that much free time. However to those of us in education, we know that ‘free time’ is anything but care free.
While it may be true that students have many days off, half days and late starts, the school and the employees within don’t see quite as much of that free time. Building articulation days, district articulation days, curriculum writing, parent teacher conferences, institute days and plain old teacher work days. Of all of my ‘days off’, I think my favorite is institute day because of the opportunity for growth it provides.
In our day to day instructional habits, it can be easy to get in a rut. The lessons that once were fresh and exciting are now dull and mundane. We may be teaching the same lesson we did last year, but this time around it just doesn’t have the same pizazz. Our activities haven’t changed but the students just aren’t responding like they used to. Five to ten years ago when we were in school, these were cutting edge instructional practices but believe it or not best practices can and do change.
While it may not be feasible for every teacher to return to the college classroom to pursue a new certificate or degree, we can take advantage of the annual opportunities our schools provide for professional development, i.e. institute days.
The essence of life is growth.
Last week I was able to attend a countywide counselor institute day. The day followed a pretty familiar formula: opening session, choice of three breakouts, working lunch and then keynote speaker. It was clear that the organizers had put a lot of thought and effort into putting together a quality experience for us. The sessions were full of energy, information and practical take aways. In one day I was able to get information on cyber bullying, the Illinois model of school counseling, current drug trends in my area and how to have a contagiously positive attitude at work.
These are all areas of concern in my day to day practice as a school counselor, but it had been years since I had received any updated training in these domains. I’m sure the same was true for the hundreds of other counselors there as well. And speaking of hundreds of other counselors, that is another added benefit of institute days, gathering with other professionals. We may work with others professionals in our buildings, but there are only so many ideas you can share before the whole building is doing the same thing. Sometimes the best thing you can do to freshen up your practice is by hearing and seeing what someone else practices.
When you work with other professionals outside of your normal circle of influence you pick up new ideas, you reinforce things that are going well and most importantly you grow. A wise man once told me that the essence of life is growth. Every day that you grow you are living, and everyday where you’ve let the opportunity for growth slip away is another day closer the other direction. Take advantage of the professional development opportunities these ‘free days’ provide. The growth you experience will keep your career young and alive and will help your students achieve the growth you desire as well.
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