Seminar 11 Blog Post

Unfortunately, while I’ve often lived by the motto that “a lack of time is no excuse,” time is certainly in high demand. The Rolling Stones wrote a song called Time Is On My Side… they obviously didn’t work in public education. You’ve seen this theme appear in my prior posts… finding enough time to provide authentic professional development, professional networking and now time for reflection. This is the epitome of common sense… time for reflection… but we often fail to provide (or to take) the necessary time for reflection. I’d be interested to see how school districts are providing this time in their regular, daily schedules. Is it effective and of high quality? How do you determine the quality of reflection? Do you collect some form of evidence? I’m not convinced adding time for reflection can happen… without sacrificing something in exchange. In my case, I’m working with five (5) in-service/Act 80 days in a given school year. By contract, two of the five days are set aside as classroom preparation days. That leaves three seven (7) hour in-service days to fit in the entire breadth and scope of our work. During the seven (7) hour work day (not inclusive of the thirty minute duty-free lunch), teachers are engaged nearly every minute of every day. Time is definitely not on my side. I’ve said this in prior posts… while it’s wildly unpopular… for our profession to meet the current demands of today, we must ensure the extension of the school year. Imagine the planning and professional development that could evolve with another month or two on the professional work year.