Response to each one with at least 100-150 words
Michael
Reading Andrea’s philosophy of facilitation made me think about my own thoughts surrounding the ideas/concept of facilitation. I know that many courses and people tell us that teachers are to become facilitators of knowledge and I agree with this. Sometimes I struggle with what a facilitator actually is. Is it someone who is just in the room/area to provide support/guidance? Is it someone who guides the conversation? How does facilitation work with younger children? I have these questions and more, but I think it is important to develop a philosophy of facilitation prior to entering into a situation where facilitation is going to be done.
There were many points from Andrea’s philosophy that I agree with.
“I believe that all teachers, no matter how experienced, have something to learn.”
-This is very true. If we ever stop learning then we are doing ourselves and our students a disservice. Being lifelong learners is an important aspect of teaching. If we begin to think that we know everything, it might be time for us to go home. We do not know everything and there is always something else to learn.
“I believe that good professional development is relational. Teachers learn by talking to one another.”
-Relationships are the foundation for learning. When we teach our students, we are better able to reach them when we have built a relationship with them. When we have a relationship with our colleagues, we are better able to learn from and with them. Conversations flow better when there is a relationship between two people.
“I believe that a facilitator can optimize how teachers learn from one another.”
–I have attended many professional developments where I felt like I did not learn anything. There were others where I could tell that I learned a lot from. The difference in those sessions was the facilitators and how they approached facilitation. Just because someone is called a facilitator does not mean that they will be good at facilitating. A true facilitator is someone who knows how to make sure that the learning targets are met. They have a handle on how adults learn as well.
Latoya
The one point that I agree with Andrea on the most is that I believe all teachers, no matter how experienced, have something to learn. I firmly believe that a teacher is a lifelong learner as an educator. As a teacher myself, the educational field has constantly changed every year. Attending professional developments given by school districts and workshops are some ways I learned new things to take back into the classroom. Learning new things is a way to incorporate fun new learning strategies into my lessons for my students. This point is exceptionally accurate when working with technology. There are so many new tools that are introduced that I must stay up to date. Even though I know many things about technology, there is always something new to learn. The different updates to new software like Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have transformed how I communicate with my students’ parents, introduce my lessons to my students and collaborate with other teachers on lessons. Also, when it comes to my students, I will always have many new personalized learning experiences with the different students that I teach every year. Ted Talks was introduced to me by my superintendent, and there are some topics I learned so much about because no matter who you meet in life, there will always be something you can learn from another person.
I can’t entirely agree with Andrea’s point that she believes that teachers, as the adults who actually work with students every day, are best positioned to ask the kinds of questions that really matter to improving teaching and learning. I sat down and talked to my student’s parents, and they provided me with details about their children that helped me improve how I taught my lessons. I realized I do not get to observe everything about my students, and having a parent’s insight can help.
Krisiti
Having critical friends’ groups is such a great idea. Many teachers oftentimes have to attend mandatory professional development meetings. From my personal experience, I can say that there arent many transformative moments. The critical friends’ groups is a great strategy to bring different outlooks and opinions to professional development meetings.
One point that Andrea makes about facilitation is that being an educator is somewhat relational work. This means the teachers are in fact the students. Effective teaching will not happen unless you have good and strong interactions between people. Teachers must also be flexible and consistent in learning/improving upon new methods and strategies. Teaching methods and strategies change every day. Teachers must be humble and be open to continue learning these different practices.
Secondly, Andrea feels that facilitation is where she needs improvement. Facilitators are needed to help teachers get the best experience from one another. Andrea feels that this can be done using proper protocols; specifically, the ones used in her own CFG. We are taught that protocols are important. However, if there is no facilitator that can create a safe space for conversations, protocols may seem pointless.
The point that I agree with the most is that regarding professional development facilitators must be relational. Facilitators are responsible for creating a safe place for conversations and sharing. The facilitator also controls the overall atmosphere of the professional development meetings. From personal experiences, teachers are more inclined to share their experiences when they feel that they are respected by their peers and also their facilitator. I have been to professional development meetings where there were both good and bad facilitators. The mood of the audience (Teachers) was solely based on how the facilitator held the room.
In closing, I feel that I share some of the same philosophies about teaching and facilitation as Andrea does. I would add to some of Andrea’s points by stating that it is very important to go to fellow teachersw (veterans) for help. Teachers learn best by observing other teachers. So with that being said, I would encourage new teachers as well as veteran teachers to never stop finding the need to educate themselves on the different practices associated with being an effective educator.
