A Workshop Week and Then Some!

My fellow DESICA science cohorts and I have spent the last week in professional development, with two more days to go this week and five more days to go in August.

Why in the world do we do this to ourselves?

We drag out of bed in the summer pre-dawn hours to trek across the state to Hartford or Danbury.  Is this what we had in mind when we first became teachers?  No. Summers off with days on the beach, watching the sunset in the evening by some dock of the bay wasting time was more of what was going through my mind. I think we ask "why" basically everyday.  None of us seem to answer the question because we all know and understand without saying.

Most of the presentations and activities are excellent, some are not.  That is true for any type of professional development though.  Overall we have learned a great deal about teaching and learning and have made incremental and in some cases vast changes in the way we instruct on a daily basis.  This goes not just for science, but math, reading, writing, and social studies as well. We have developed connections and resources that make our jobs so much easier.  We have support from colleagues and peers from other towns in Connecticut.   We are more confident in our daily instruction.

So back to the original question.  Why do we do this to ourselves in the summer when we don't have to be attending professional development?

Beneath the chatter of being tired, mileage on our cars, missing our families, or plain old goofing around we all have a deep unspoken understanding that we are there to help improve the science instruction in our schools.  If we can begin to improve our instruction in our classroom, then begin to help others in our school, we will systemically be able to improve science instruction and learning for all of the children in our schools.  If this can be done in science, it can be done in all the other subjects.  Slowly but surely I think we can get there.  It is all for the kids!

This is why we go.  Even though it would be nice to sleep past 6:00 am some day.

Happy Independence Day.