...but I'll fully admit it.
AFT has recently approved a resolution at it's delegate assembly (or whatever its called) supporting the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) program. Way to go!
For the unitiated, PAR was pioneered in Toledo, Ohio, by the Toledo Federation of Teachers (TFT). Dal Lawrence was President at the time (now Fran Lawrence is President) and it was a groundbreaking initiative. No one else was doing it-- now PAR has spread across the country. My national, NEA, grudgingly approved it at one point or another.
The point is this:
Quite frankly, new teachers (especially millenials) need guidance and mentoring...especially from more senior teachers...PAR is the avenue to make this happen.
I remember meeting Dal at one point and asking him what Shanker had said about PAR...he had never met Shanker until that point and he supported what he did. The executive council or board or whatever (I don't remember, I'm NEA) was a little more miserly in their support.
PAR needs to be in every district...it's worth the investment. Teachers mentoring teachers is the way to go!
Yea AFT!
4 comments:
Link?
And what's a "millenial"?
I have no idea where the link is. Millenials? Born between 1980 and 2000. They are the future of this country and the world....and our unions. The catch is, we've got to make them stick around and realize that union work is what they're called to do...because we are safe in their hands. They are our future leaders. Boomers are retiring, Gen X'ers (such as myself) are overall too cynical...Millenials will change the world!
What senior teachers? Soon there will be no senior teachers left. Who will do the mentoring?
My principal uses PAR as a way to get rid of teachers. In 10 years of teaching, I have never had an unsatisfactory evaluation. We got our new principal, I voiced dissent, and now, I am referred to the PAR panel. Mind you, my SAT9 scores for my 2nd graders has been, on average, 10 points above my district http://thefrustratedteacher.blogspot.com/2008/04/i-know-they-dont-matter-but.html.
If PAR really existed for teachers to help teachers, it would not be used as a bludgeon by principals. Teachers are professionals. If we want to start some kind of master teacher consortium to help novices, we can do it on our own. We do not need to give management another tool to beat teachers with, and pay lip-service to parents with.
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