Conversations with Educators

A+ is pleased to present a conversation with Cheryl Sparks, Alabama State Teacher of the Year 1998-99. (view biographical sketch)

How important is teacher leadership?

Traversing the state of Alabama is not exactly what I thought I would be doing this fall, but it has been truly one exciting, enriching discovery after another. I have encountered so many wonderful organizations and individuals whose passion and chief goal is student success. From ASTF (Alabama State Teachers Forum) to SERVE (Southeast Regional Vision for Education), teachers have a deep well of resources from which we can draw as well as contribute to everything from information and ideas to standards and on-line help.

I have known this broad support system existed, but it has been a phenomenal experience to meet so many of the teachers and other leaders who form its bedrock. I am convinced of this; teacher-leaders are in every local school building in Alabama. The common vein running through these pathfinders is a sacrificial desire to directly or indirectly empower and encourage colleagues. This investment is often costly and leaders must be wise managers, but as more and more teacher-leaders develop, the network will continue to spread and responsibilities will be more efficiently shared.

Leaders must step up and become involved. It is so exciting to be part of the emergence of a generation of teachers who are drilling deeper and deeper into personal stores to be able to make a difference in our profession.

What are your thoughts on professional development?

For twelve years it has been my good fortune to instruct and network with teachers in various professional development workshops through the Regional Inservice Center at Jacksonville State University. During this time I have been able to observe what I believe vitalizes our profession... a consistent willingness to jump in feet first and take advantage of whatever will improve student achievement.

I have never met a teacher in one of these sessions that was striving to be average. Teachers desire quality professional development and that inherently involves change for both providers and participants. Some teachers are making shifts in quantum leaps and others in tiny increments, but fewer and fewer are unwilling to evolve at all.

Growth and change is not limited to teachers. Many district leaders in our state are incorporating new thinking on what effective professional development really is. The "one-size-fits-all", "sit and get", or "drive-through" approaches are gradually being replaced by professional development that is data driven and really meets teacher and student needs. Both provider and participant are responsible. But the teachers who embrace professional development as an opportunity and not a requirement are those who emerge as leaders and seek to incorporate what best practices they have seen and can effectively use.

The gate of change is locked on the inside.

What role does parental involvement have in schools?

Being a high school teacher for the best part of twenty-one years has provided fertile ground to develop creativity in the area of parental involvement. National statistics support what has been obvious for years; elementary and middle schools develop the strongest parental involvement programs. Unique demographics can and do foster excellence in high schools programs, but traditionally high schools wane as stellar examples of parental participation. A caring but weary parent once remarked, "All the juice has been sucked out of this orange. Now that our kids are in high school I have little left to give".

But this coin has two sides. Many of the secondary schools that diligently seek to embrace parent volunteer populations experience low or inconsistent participation and the program withers due to lack of support. On the other hand, willing parents and other volunteers may be unable to contribute effectively for lack of a stable, productive program in their schools. There is hope.

In visiting and reading about high schools with successful parent-involvement programs, some common conditions seem to be present: long-term administrative commitment; a parent-friendly environment throughout the school building; effective program promotion; involved, informed faculty and staff; and programs that are included and important to all facets of school planning year after year.

Parental involvement is one of many avenues that lead to excellence for students, faculty, and community. It is a wise school that invests in whatever it takes to include them. It takes all of us.

How can schools integrate technology successfully?

Alan November, an educational technology guru, and Patrick Crispen, an Internet expert and senior at the University of Alabama, are leading expositors on the process of infusing technology into our classrooms. As I read their work and watch the "technolust" wave sweep our nation, some conclusions are forming in my mind.

The President's call to have every classroom Internet ready by the year 2000 has fueled the funding for educational technology. Classrooms are slowly receiving more and more of the hardware necessary to meet the demand to prepare our students for a cyber-dependent work place. However, the expectations are tremendous.

There exists a gap though between what equipment we are provided and how much training we have in how to use it instructionally. So many teachers have fears and are even intimidated by technology and its vast capabilities, tremendous power, and rapid evolution. Many are totally unfamiliar with computer operation and have no clue about how all this can improve instruction and student achievement. Alan November says teachers should be "incubated not mandated" relative to the application of technology to their methods.

It is hoped that technology will not simply be piled on to what teachers are doing now, but will be incorporated as one tool among many tools available to teachers in their quest to meet standards and encourage good habits of the mind. An approach that alleviates "technofear" gradually and slowly exposes teachers to technology's instructional value is far superior to mandating its immediate implementation without proper support.

Concluding thoughts:

Attending regional and statewide conferences gives me a unique opportunity to network with teachers from across the country. I have seen first hand that no matter what the geographic location or per pupil expenditure, we all have similar dreams, plans, and problems to work through in our profession.

High stakes testing, various content standards, graduation requirements and other accountability forms are issues we face daily as a national work force. I am encouraged to know that our state is moving into the 21st century behind leadership at the state level that has set high and challenging goals for Alabama's students that ideally should better prepare them for a vastly different world than the one we graduated into.

Experience and statistics bear out the fact that limited expectations yield limited results. Fruit grows out on the limb and though no one is very comfortable out there, the limb is where the produce is. Teachers need fertilizer and sunshine, lots of water and time to produce in our students what is expected. We may not have a bumper crop the first or second year, but with good leaders, quality professional development opportunities, and consistent support from parents and community we will eventually begin to have the yield for which we hoped.

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