Pathway to Personal Growth and Development for Teachers

Pathway to Personal Growth and Development for Teachers It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be an effective teacher. Like other careers, there are those who are more natural at it than others. Even those with the most natural teaching ability must put in the time necessary to cultivate their innate talent. Personal growth and development is a critical component that all teachers must embrace in order to maximize their potential. There are several different ways that a teacher can enhance their personal growth and development. Most teachers will use a combination of these methods to solicit valuable feedback and information that will guide their teaching career. Some teachers may prefer one method over another, but each of the following has been proven to be valuable in their overall development as a teacher. Advanced Degree Earning an advanced degree in an area within education is a fantastic way to gain a fresh perspective. It is also an excellent way to learn about the newest educational trends. It provides tremendous networking opportunities, can lead to a pay increase, and allows you to specialize in an area where you may have more interest. Going this route is not for everyone. It can be time-consuming, costly, and sometimes overwhelming as you try to balance the other aspects of your life with those of earning a degree. You must be organized, self-motivated, and adept at multi-tasking to use this as a successful way to improve yourself as a teacher. Advice/Evaluations from Administrators Administrators by nature should be excellent resources of advice for teachers. Teachers should not be afraid to seek help from an administrator. It is essential that administrators are accessible for teachers when they need something. Administrators are typically experienced teachers themselves who should be able to provide a wealth of information. Administrators, through teacher evaluations, are able to observe a teacher, identify strengths and weaknesses, and offer suggestions that when followed will lead to improvement. The evaluation process provides natural collaboration where the teacher and administrator can ask questions, exchange ideas, and offer suggestions for improvement. Experience Experience is perhaps the greatest teacher. No amount of training can truly prepare you for the adversity that a teacher can face in the real world. First year teachers often wonder what they have gotten themselves into over the course of that first year. It can be frustrating and disheartening, but it does become easier. A classroom is a laboratory and teachers are chemists constantly tinkering, experimenting, and mixing things up until they find the right combination that works for them.  Each day and year brings about new challenges, but experience allows us to adapt quickly and make changes ensuring that things continue to operate efficiently. Journaling Journaling can provide valuable learning opportunities through self-reflection. It allows you to capture moments in your teaching career that may be beneficial to reference at other points along the way. Journaling does not have to take a lot of your time. 10-15 minutes a day can provide you with a lot of valuable information.  Learning opportunities arise almost daily, and journaling allows you to encapsulate these moments, reflect on them at a later time, and make adjustments that can help you become a better teacher. Literature There is an overabundance of books and periodicals dedicated to teachers. You can find a plethora of terrific books and periodicals to help improve in any area you may struggle with as a teacher. You can also find several books and periodicals that are inspirational and motivational in nature. There are excellent content driven books and periodicals that can challenge how you teach critical concepts. You will probably not agree with every facet of every book or periodical, but most offer sensational tidbits that we can apply to ourselves and to our classrooms. Asking other teachers, talking to administrators, or doing a quick online search can provide you with a good list of must-read literature. Mentoring Program Mentoring can be an invaluable tool for professional growth and development. Every young teacher should be paired with a veteran teacher. This relationship can prove to be beneficial for both teachers so long as both sides keep an open mind. Young teachers can lean on a veteran teacher’s experience and knowledge while veteran teachers can gain a fresh perspective and insight into the newest educational trends. A mentoring program provides teachers with a natural support system where they are able to seek feedback and guidance, exchange ideas, and vent at times. Professional Development Workshops/Conferences Professional development is a mandatory component of being a teacher.  Every state requires teachers to earn a certain number of professional development hours each year. Great professional development can be critical to the overall development of a teacher. Teachers are presented with professional development opportunities covering varying topics throughout the course of each year. Great teachers recognize their weaknesses and attend professional development workshops/conferences to improve these areas. Many teachers commit a portion of their summer to attending professional development workshops/conferences. Workshops/conferences also provide teachers with invaluable networking opportunities that can further enhance their overall growth and improvement. Social Media Technology is changing the face of education inside and outside of the classroom. Never before have teachers been able to make the global connections that they are able to make now. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Google , and Pinterest have created a global exchange of ideas and best practices amongst teachers. Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are providing teachers with a new avenue for personal growth and development. These connections provide teachers with a vast array of knowledge and information from other professionals across the globe. Teachers struggling in a particular area are able to ask their PLN for advice. They quickly receive responses with valuable information they can use for improvement. Teacher-Teacher Observations Observations should be a two-way street. Doing the observing and being observed are equally valuable learning tools. Teachers should be open to allowing other teachers in their classroom on a regular basis. It is necessary to note that this will not work if either teacher is egotistical or easily offended. Every teacher is different. They all have their individual strengths and weaknesses. During observations, the observing teacher is able to take notes detailing the other teacher’s strength and weaknesses. Later they can sit down together and discuss the observation. This provides a collaborative opportunity for both teachers to grow and improve. The Internet The Internet provides unlimited resources to teachers with the click of a mouse. There are millions of lesson plans, activities, and information available online for teachers. Sometimes you have to filter everything to find the highest quality content, but search long enough and you will find what you are looking for. This instant access to resources and content makes teachers better. With the Internet, there is no excuse for failing to provide your students with the highest quality lessons. If you need a supplemental activity for a particular concept, you can find likely find it quickly. Sites like YouTube, Teachers Pay Teachers, and Teaching Channel offer quality educational content that can improve teachers and their classrooms.

The History of Black Women in the 1950s

The History of Black Women in the 1950s African-American women are an essential part of our collective history. The following is a chronology of events and birthdates for women involved in African-American history, from 1950-1959. 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize (for Annie Allen). Althea Gibson became the first African-American to play at Wimbledon. Juanita Hall became the first African-American to win a Tony Award, for playing Bloody Mary in South Pacific. January 16: Debbie Allen born (choreographer, actor, director, producer). February 2: Natalie Cole born (singer; daughter of Nat King Cole). 1951 July 15: Mary White Ovington died (social worker, reformer, NAACP founder).   Linda Browns father sued the Topeka, Kansas, school board because she had to travel by bus to a school for African-American children when she could walk to the segregated school for white children only.  This would become the  Brown v. Board of Education  landmark civil rights case. 1952 September:  Autherine Juanita Lucy and Pollie Myers applied to the University of Alabama and were accepted. Their acceptances were rescinded when the university discovered they were not white. They took the case to court, and it took three years to resolve the case. 1954 Norma Sklarek became the first African-American woman licensed as an architect. Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-Amerian woman nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, for playing the lead role in Carmen Jones. January 29: Oprah Winfrey born (first African-American woman billionaire, first African-American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show). September 22: Shari Belafonte-Harper born (actress). May 17: In Brown v. Board of Education, Supreme Court ordered schools to desegregate with all deliberate speed - finds separate but equal public facilities to be unconstitutional. July 24: Mary Church Terrell died (activist, clubwoman). 1955 May 18: Mary McLeod Bethune died. July: Rosa Parks attended a workshop at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, learning effective tools for civil rights organizing. August 28: Emmett Till, 14 years old, was killed by a white mob in Mississippi after he was accused of whistling at a white woman. December 1: Rosa Parks was arrested when she refused to give up a seat and move to the rear of the bus, triggering the Montgomery bus boycott. Marian Anderson became the first African-American member of the Metropolitan Opera company. 1956 Mae Jemison born (astronaut, physician). Hundreds of women and men in Montgomery walked for miles to work rather than use the buses as part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A court ordered the University of Alabama to admit Autherine Juanita Lucy, who filed a lawsuit in 1952 (see above). She was admitted but was barred from dormitories and dining halls.  She enrolled on February 3 as a graduate student in library science, the first black student admitted to a white public school or university in Alabama. The university expelled her in March, claiming she had slandered the school, after riots broke out and the courts ordered the university to protect her. In 1988, the university annulled the expulsion and she returned to school, earning her M.A. degree in education in 1992. The school even named a clock tower for her, and featured her portrait in the student union honoring her initiative and courage. December 21: The Supreme Court ruled bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama was unconstitutional. 1957 African-American students, advised by NAACP activist Daisy Bates, desegregated a Little Rock, Arkansas, school under the protection of military troops ordered in by the federal government. April 15: Evelyn Ashford was born (athlete, track and field; four Olympic gold medals, Track and Field Womens Hall of Fame). Althea Gibson became the first African-American tennis player to win at Wimbledon and the first African-American to win the U.S. Open. The Associated Press named Althea Gibson their Woman Athlete of the Year. 1958 August 16: Angela Bassett born (actress). 1959 March 11: Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry became the first Broadway play written by an African-American woman - Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil starred. January 12: Motown Records founded in Detroit after Berry Gordy deferred working for Billy Davis and Gordys sisters Gwen and Anna at Anna Records; female stars from Motown included Diane Ross and the Supremes, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah. December 21: Florence Griffith-Joyner born (athlete, track and field; first African-American to win four medals in one Olympics; sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee).