Conversations with Educators

A+ is pleased to present a conversation with Ann Dominick, the 1999 State Teacher of the Year. Ann is a teacher at South Shades Crest Elementary School. (view biographical sketch)

What is your reaction to the Task Force's report on Teaching and Learning?

After reading the Alabama Task Force's report Teaching and Learning: Meeting the Challenge of High Standards, the idea which struck me most was the importance of having quality teachers in classrooms. Research studies have looked at the impact of good teaching on student achievement and concluded that students who have comparable initial achievement levels have significantly different achievement outcomes as a result of the teachers they have. Schools can be well built, have a strong P.T.O., and work to have a quality curriculum in place, but it's what happens in individual classrooms that makes all the difference. Teachers cannot teach well what they do not know.

Teacher testing is a hot issue in the news lately, and while this may help to screen potential educators who want to enter the profession but do not meet high standards, the Task Force Report brings out the fact that to help achieve the goal of having a quality teacher in every classroom, more attention must also be paid to the professional development of teachers already in classrooms.

What effective models have you found for supporting long-term professional growth?

For the past eight years I have been meeting with a group of teachers whose goal is to continue their own professional growth. This group, called the Educators' Forum, is a teacher-research group. Traditional models for professional development often amount to an administration telling every staff member which area of the curriculum needs attention this year. The thrust may be to try out a new math program one year and the move on to social studies the next year. Rarely are teacher given an opportunity to reflect on their teaching and decide where they feel they need to put their energies.

Reflection is a critical part of growth, and the Educators' Forum provides a format for slowing down to examine questions and look for answers. Each member of the group identifies his or her own research topic at the beginning of the year, and the group serves as a sounding board for helping members observe and answer their own question. This model allows teachers time to reflect and provides support for doing informal qualitative research to answer the questions which are important in their own classrooms.

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