Well...Page and Victoria set a pretty high bar, but I'm going to give this blogging thing a shot. :) I, Peggy Dove, am the third piece in the coaching puzzle at Reach. Two years ago, I was part of the design team along with Victoria and several other Bay Area teachers (as was previously mentioned) that helped to pilot practices and advise the creation of Reach. I had no intention at that time to leave the classroom and coach teachers full-time, but here I am!
Okay...let me back up tell you a little about how I got into teaching in the first place. I graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and realized that the last thing I wanted to do was spend my life working on redesigning an engine block for 25 years. So...I went to graduate school in bioengineering thinking that I would find more purpose there....but instead I found even bigger egos and corporate schmoozing. After becoming more aware of the "-isms" and social injustice (both in society in general and in my life personally), I knew that I had to be a part of fighting for social change...however small...in one way or another (bye, bye engineering!). I spent the next year and a half working in after-school programs and doing Americorps, and then became a classroom teacher through Teach For America (I could write a novel with my thoughts on TFA, by the way).
I'm currently closing out my fifth and last year (for now, at least) as a classroom teacher at an unbelieveable elementary school that I am proud to be a part of (This past year I was a half-time teacher at L.U.C.H.A. Elementary and a half-time coach with Reach). I'm revising unit plans and long-term plans for the teachers to use next year, avoiding the inevitable cleaning of my classroom, thinking about all the students and families I have known, and reflecting on my successes and failures over the years as a teacher and leader. Teaching really is an art (Page, I liked your painting reference), a craft that is never perfected or "figured out"...and that is both what makes teaching incredibly beautiful and incredibly frustrating for me. I agree with Page that the overall ideas of teaching are rather simple, my emotional, mental, and physical state at the end of a school year won't let me forget that the act of teaching is ridiculously HARD. Even so (and perhaps as a result), the learnings and rewards of being a classroom teacher are immeasureable for me.
While I don't necessarily feel like I'm "ready" to leave the classroom, I do believe very strongly in our mission at Reach and couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a part of a program creating real change in teacher education. Spending last year as a half-time coach was SUCH a learning experience (I felt like a first year teacher again!), and I'm excited to approach this next year with even more focus and energy. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all and being connected to YOUR journeys in the classroom!
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9 comments:
Peggy, I’m eager to learn more about your successes and failures. It was nice to know that we are all human and not one person is perfect. This being said, I love the comment you made about teaching and how it’s “a craft that is never perfected”. After reading this I am more than ever ready to learn about this art and am willing to soak it all up like a sponge!
Chris, How I would LOVE to say that teaching CAN be perfected (and that I, in my short 5 years in the classroom, had acheived that perfection), but that would just be absurd! :) It's not a question of whether or not we, as teachers, fail...we all do...in one way or another...at one time or another...but rather how we reflect upon those experiences and continue to try and improve our craft. From reading your other comments, it seems that you already have experience with this type of committment and persistence...which will certainly serve you well as you continue your path in teaching! I look forward to meeting you this summer!
Welcome aboard, Peggy! I really identify with the moment of revelation you described, when you saw the social injustice around you and felt like you needed to do something to make a difference. I applied to TFA last year and they declined to take me, so I'm very excited to be working with ARISE this year. I look forward to working with you throughout the year to come!
Oh, and it looks like we have multiple Chrises in this cohort. :)
Nice to (sort of) meet you, Chris! :) While my current commitment to education is no accident, I do feel like I could have also ended up in social work...community organizing...foster care (I actually did have a position in foster care support for two weeks before I was offered a teaching job)...because really my goal was and is to work for social change. I do, however, feel that education is the best fit for me...hopefully you will feel the same!! As for TFA...well...they have issues, so I'm glad that you still went ahead and found a place in the classroom! I look forward to meeting you in person. :)
Peggy, I am drawn to the fact that teaching pulls in talented, caring people from other professions who are determined to make a social change. I certainly was drawn into teaching because I knew that teaching is a way to change the future. After college, I went to work in a Migrant Summer Program in Colorado, and I was hooked. I knew that this is what I was meant to do with my life. After 17 years already of working in the field of eduation, I know that I have a lifetime left of learning and trying to perfect my craft. I believe that you can never reach that perfection because even though we are teachers, we are also students. I am looking forward to learning and growing as a person and as a professional this year and beyond with new insight and energy for teaching.
from the conversations we've had, it's very clear that you are passionate about education and committed to your students!!! i'm excited to be a part of your journey, and i'm thrilled that the students at rocketship will have a teacher with such a big heart!
This blog touched me the most because it reminds me of how important it is to do what you love and are passionate about. There are things in life we should do and need to do. There are things in life we think we should do and we think we need to do. Sometimes we also do them to please others. But when you can recognize what your passion in life is and go after it, it is a beautiful thing. Even tho we have not met and many times text can put people's words out of context, I can hear and feel the passion you have for teaching. Thank you for your energy and excitement. It brings me hope and inspiration that I CAN do this.
Peggy, thanks for your words. I would love to hear more about the thoughts, feelings and experiences that lead up to your career switch. I think that was a very brave choice to make and that you should be celebrated for having the courage and vision to make a change when, as George Leonard reminds us, homeostasis feels so much easier. I respect your story so much because it illustrates, for me, the difference between action and lamentation. What I mean is that identifying the –isms, the unfairness, and institutionalized wrongs of our society only brings us so far. Yet it can be so easy to remain in a place of lamentation – discussing, researching, and mourning what’s unjust. I feel that defined my college experience – a static awareness of things in the world I didn’t agree with and knew in my heart of hearts were wrong, but I didn’t develop a strategy for action, couldn’t commit to a cause. The decisiveness and confidence that must gone into your move, Peggy, inspires me and sets the standard for true dedication to social justice. I agree with you that the classroom is a great place to start.
Peggy, I wanted to respond to your comment about teaching being both an extremely rewarding and frustrating profession. With my extremely brief time in the classroom this summer I was given a small taste of just how rewarding and frustrating it can truly be. I would leave my classroom of pre-k kids everyday wondering if tomorrow they would remember that the letter of the day was S and if Lauren would remember how to write her name. At the same time I would wonder if my talk with one of my boys would help curb his tantrums for the week. After reflecting on my successes and failures from this short time in the classroom I understand the immense responsibility teachers have.
I would like to tie this all back to what Page said about the 9 skills and attitudes that typify teachers who help all learners. Those 9 skills really struck me as something I want to reach toward during my time in the classroom (however long that may be?). I think that those skills and attitudes are essential for all teachers and I know that I will have many successes and an equal amount of failures during my time in the classroom, but I hope that I can embody those characteristics to my best ability.
I am really looking forward to learning so much from you and your experiences with 2nd graders, since that is what I will be teaching in just a few weeks! eeek! :)
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