From The Field

Cindy Harrison

Time for learning every day

“MY DREAM is that 10 years from now, there will be time for professional development for every teacher in every school every day. In fact, I see teachers placing so much value on professional development that they’ll fight for contract language to make sure they get a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes of it daily. The teachers themselves will be actively engaged in the design and delivery of that professional development, which

essentially will involve them spending time together focusing on what’s impacting learning in their school.

“If you look at Japan, you’ll see teachers are already doing this. They don’t teach all day. They have time to work with their colleagues, talking about and reflecting on their work. It’s not unlike doctors doing rounds every morning. They walk together in small groups to visit each other’s patients. Then they talk about the best treatment plans, with each adding his or her knowledge to the discussion.

“Finding this kind of time for teachers will require changing schedules, restructuring the school day and the ways in which students are divided, and reallocating resources. But if we don’t do it, we’ll be back to the days when professional development meant bringing in experts to tell teachers what to do. That’s essentially teacher ‘training,’ which never makes an impact in the classroom.”

Cindy Harrison is an independent educational consultant and co-author, with Joellen Killion, of Taking the Lead: New Roles for Teachers and School-Based Coaches, the newest book from NSDC on teacher leadership.

She is also past president of the National Staff Development Council and a member of the board of the Alliance for Quality Teaching, a policy group based in Denver, Colo., that focuses on ensuring the quality of the classroom teacher. You can contact her at crh@instructimprove.org.