A Summing Up. Robert Eaker
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Название: A Summing Up
Автор: Robert Eaker
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Учебная литература
isbn: 9781949539745
isbn:
Third, we wanted to present a framework for embedding these practices in schools by capturing the power of the basic principles of the learning community “at work” concept. Rick and I never claimed that we were the first to use the term professional learning communities or the first to propose that professional learning communities held promise for improving schools. What we were proud of was that we developed a framework of processes, practices, and procedures that educators could use to reculture schools into highly functional professional learning communities and, as a result, positively impact student achievement. We saw Professional Learning Communities at Work as a how-to book for school practitioners.
To say that Professional Learning Communities at Work was a success would be an understatement. Due to Jeff’s business and marketing innovations, coupled with Professional Learning Communities at Work Institutes, the book quickly gained momentum and proved very successful, not only for us, but also for those who used the book to help guide their school improvement efforts. Jeff was very innovative in his vision for growing Solution Tree, initially through marketing the PLC at Work process. His brilliance was connecting book sales to PLC at Work Institutes and ultimately connecting both to high-quality professional development services. This vision of publishing books and offering institutes and professional development—much like a three-legged stool—proved to be highly successful, and as a result, our books and attendance at our institutes and professional development activities grew quickly, with each leg of the stool enhancing the others.
The concepts and practices of the PLC at Work process have been endorsed by virtually every major educational organization in the United States and have been supported by researchers and practitioners alike. Districts and schools that have successfully embedded the PLC at Work concepts and practices can be found in every state and province in North America—and increasingly, around the world.
I often meet people who believe my thinking and ideas about systemic initiatives to improve student learning began with the publication of Professional Learning Communities at Work (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). In actuality, the PLC at Work process was the culmination of many years of collaboration with a number of people who had a significant impact, not only on my thinking, but also, in fact, on my life. And although I have continued to refine my thinking since 1998 (and hopefully, I will continue to do so), my serious thinking around enhancing student achievement began in the early 1970s, when I was a doctoral student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and was influenced enormously by Jerry Bellon.
So, with an appreciative nod to W. Somerset Maugham, what follows is my attempt, after almost half a century as a professional educator, to sort out my thoughts on how to create the kinds of schools and classrooms for all kids that we would want for our own children.
CHAPTER l
Clinical Supervision
Improving Classroom Instruction
Like many things in my life, my first opportunity to study best practices for improving student learning—my work with Jerry Bellon on clinical supervision—was accidental. In my mind, the journey began at Brainerd High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1968, with my first teaching position. But perhaps it began even earlier, when I was an undergraduate.
I have generally paid attention to suggestions and advice from others, especially people I know well and admire. However, in college, there was one piece of advice I chose not to accept. I chose to major in history and become a teacher, despite many friends pointing out that teaching positions in history were few and far between, and if I didn’t become a teacher, what employment could I count on with a degree in history?
Regardless of the odds, I stuck with it. I enjoyed my history classes, and without exception, I enjoyed my history professors at the University of Chattanooga. In the 1960s, the University of Chattanooga was still a small private liberal arts university, only later becoming part of the University of Tennessee system. I thrived in such a place. The classes were small, I got to know my professors, and they likewise knew me. I decided to stick with history, believing that somehow I would be able to get a teaching position following graduation.
A huge break came when I was assigned to Brainerd High School for my student teaching experience. In the late 1960s, Brainerd was considered by many to be the top public high school in the Chattanooga public school system, both academically and athletically. The school had only been open a few years (my wife, Star, was in the first graduating class) and was located in an upper-middle-class section of the city.
I can’t remember anything remarkable about the experience, except that it gave the principal and others the opportunity to know me, both personally and as a teacher. However, the prospects of attaining a teaching position there were very bleak. The history staff had been at the school since it had opened, and since none were near retirement, no openings were likely in the foreseeable future.
And then, a stroke of luck! One of the history teachers at Brainerd accepted a position at a nearby community college, and I was offered his position. At the time, I didn’t realize there was a storm brewing at Brainerd and in the larger Chattanooga community—a storm that would set my life on a new, and profoundly different, path.
Although over a decade had passed since the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) decision, by and large Chattanooga’s public schools remained segregated. Of Brainerd’s approximately twelve hundred students, just over a hundred were African American. Through the lens of the white population of the school—both students and adults—race relations seemed to be very positive, especially since some of the star athletes were black students.
As the number of African American students increased, however, so did their confidence and willingness to air their grievances. In retrospect, it’s astonishing that most white students and adults were surprised when black students expressed displeasure regarding the school’s nickname (the Rebels), fight song (“Dixie”), and logo (the Confederate flag).
In 1969, conflict erupted when word spread that the principal had met with a group of black students and was considering changing the offending symbols. Brainerd’s white students walked out of the school and gathered on the front lawn and in the parking lot. After some time, the principal met with them and assured them that no real consideration was being given to changing the name, the fight song, or the flag. Word of this news also spread, and as the white students walked back into their classes, the black students walked out!
Over the next few days, tensions intensified and ultimately stretched beyond the school. People with no connection to the school rode through predominately black neighborhoods of Chattanooga flying Confederate flags from their cars. Shots were fired into the air. Groups such as the John Birch Society joined in the fray by contending students had every right to not only support the school symbols but to proudly display them on their clothing, even though doing so was obviously provocative. The situation worsened to the point that some small but serious riots broke out, and the school was closed as district leaders struggled to find a solution.
At the time of these events, I was serving as dean of students and trying to de-escalate the conflict. Obviously, if the symbols remained, the black students were going to continue to protest, and the potential for more serious rioting was real—along with the likelihood that the rioting could spread throughout the city. As we struggled to find a solution, someone at the district office suggested the Educational Opportunity Planning Center at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as СКАЧАТЬ