What will it mean to teach at Delta? I think of the old slogan, maybe for the Army, “The hardest job you’ll ever love.” It will mean spending time, a lot of time, learning to and then doing things differently. It means collaboration, PLANNING, intentionality, reflectionPLANDOCHECKACT!! It means constantly striving to be better. It means trusting each other, each kid, ourselves. It means being vulnerable. It means checking ones ego at the door, because this entire endeavor is as humbling as it is exciting. As a humanities teacher, it means constantly figuring out how to honor the integrity of my disciplines while honoring the STEM theme. They are not mutually exclusiveat all! But, the connections, relevant connections, are not always clear. Portrait of my job: Kids/families first, innovation, best practice, enthusiasm, shared vision. Realizing the promise. Students and teachers will find themselves better for having been here. I think teaching at Delta means a willingness to try new things, to experiment and remember everyday that teaching is a practice and to work together. To teach at Delta is an honor, both humbling and challenging, and also (hopefully) extremely rewarding. It means getting out of my comfort zone. It means sharing with those outside the Delta family. It means always looking for and helping students to see the real world connections in their education. Teaching at Delta will be an intense experiencedriven by creativity and student learning. The Delta experience will provide personal and professional growth that is beyond that of a traditional teaching experience. There will be a feeling of true communitytrust, teamworka place where a common goal motivates and brings together teachers, students, and families and enriches all. Best of all, teaching at Delta will be the hardest, yet most fun and rewarding job ever.
Being creative, reflective, innovative, inventive. Connecting with kids, each other, parents, and the community. Building relationships with people, with content, with pedagogy. Digging deeply to develop understanding of content, community, complexity, each other. Thinking outside the fishbowl and well beyond the box. Opportunity to be innovative, a new career experience, bringing with me my integration experience to a new school. Learn from others, more connections, community partners. I never have to recruit for my program again and it is an opportunity to work in a high interest, high technology project work. To teach at Delta means that teachers will go from very good to great. Teachers will seek and find leadership opportunities for themselves, each other, for students, and for families. Teachers will have the freedom to be teachers, to teach and to learn. They will construct, write, design, foster, and labor over student learning as an integrated and collaborative body of work. Teaching at Delta means thinking differently about just about everything, expanding horizons, and providing opportunity after opportunity for students to show what they know. Teaching at Delta means; personalized learning for ALL students and creating a collaborative, supportive environment for students and staff; drawing from the research on best practices and the community partnership; creating and participating in relevant experiences that support the learning of students and staff. What do you want/need from working at Delta? This is an odd question for a teacher. Believe it or don’t we seldom think in terms of what teaching provides for us. We do it because we take in joy in what we provide to others. So, I guess, what I want from teaching at Delta is an experience where providing a quality education to students is valued by students, parents, and the community. Not that I don’t feel appreciated. That is different than valued. Students, parents, and the community could show that value by holding themselves and each other accountable for learning. They show it by questioning deeply, but kindly, the ideas we are discussing. That is what I would love to experience. A community of learners who respect and value educatorswhoever those educators may be. I need: A safe environment for risktaking
Time to collaborate Shared vision Shared decisionmaking Leadership FUN! To value others and to be valued
I want: To make a difference for our kids I need opportunities to use new technologies, to learn from others, new teaching experiences, and to work with and collaborate with PNNL scientists. I need the opportunity to connect with new community partners, to impact students, teachers, and parents, and new teaching experiences. For me, I need to contribute, connect, grow, learn, share, and to soar above the clouds and walk on a high wire (with a safety net, of course) I need collaboration from all parties involved, shared vision (this is the hard work; plowing new groundwe must be on the same page), trust (knowing this is a journey and will be challenging; this is the core of being able to work together), passion (hard work is so much easier when on want to do the work. I need community support, freedom, intellectual stimulation, and to be challenged!