Quotes from Teacher
Academy Graduates
- Teachers developed a cogent philosophy of teaching. While many Academy teachers felt they had all the pieces of the puzzle, the Academy helped them put everything together into an integrated whole.
“One of the most beneficial aspects of the Academy for me was the synthesis of ideas. I have attended many, many workshops and college courses and I had a lot of ideas and theories floating around in my head and in my teaching files. As we began the reading I must admit I was concerned about adding more disconnected material to the already overflowing files; however, as the presentations at the Academy unfolded I began to see how it fit together and also how the things I had learned in other workshops could be pieced together to complete a teaching method and theory. I cannot look at just one or two specifics and say that was the most beneficial part of the Academy because that would be like saying that one piece of a puzzle is more important than the other. I do like the edges of a puzzle better than the center when I am putting it together, however, and I do like the completed puzzle the best. The Academy was kind of like that.”
- Teachers were renewed by the Academy and felt a recommitment to and excitement about teaching that was similar to when they were beginning teachers.
“Absolutely, without a doubt, the Academy is the best antidote to teacher burnout I have ever heard of. While many teachers can’t wait to put in their 30 years and some even opt to buy out the last few years to take early retirement, I have no plans now of quitting after 30 years. As long as teaching is still ‘fun’ for me and I feel that I am making a difference in the lives of students I will continue to teach and I must give that credit to the Academy.”
- The professional self-image of teachers improved.
“I can’t tell you how differently I feel about my ability as a teacher. I have seen wonderful things happen with my students. Looking back, I would have paid a great deal of money to receive what I have been given in the area of professional self-image.”
- Teachers felt more confident, skillful, and professional.
“Through participation in National Board Certification and the Academy, I am much more confident about my role as a teacher and a professional. I am more informed about best practices and recent research on educational issues. I can better articulate and defend my viewpoint and practices, and I believe I experience a higher level of enjoyment and pleasure in what I do.”
- Beginning teachers felt the Academy helped them become more effective teachers.
“I am just starting my third year of teaching. I am so grateful to have had this experience to draw from. I finally feel I am moving from survival mode to actually making a difference. I enjoy teaching and have learned so much from the Academy.”
- Experienced teachers felt validated by their participation in the Academy.
“I am confident in my teaching skills. The Academy provided an affirmation that what I was doing as a teacher was good for kids. I have also been able to add new ideas that have helped to increase my professional self-image.”
- Teachers became more reflective practitioners.
“I got out of my comfort zone and learned just for me. I loved the struggle, the hard work, the new reading skills, the new friends, and especially witnessing excellence in other teachers. I forced myself to reflect and evaluate my style and my motivation. What kind of a teacher did I want to be? What kind of teacher had I become? Had I given up excellence for ease and comfort? I felt revitalized after the Academy experience and excited about meeting my class and sharing my new knowledge.”
- Teachers successfully evaluated their strengths and weaknesses as teachers and made a statistically significant improvement in four domains of teaching: planning and preparation, class environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.
“I feel much more confident in my abilities as a teacher as a result of the Academy experience. I now have a rubric to really evaluate myself by that helps me see both my strengths and areas I need to improve in. I believe that even though I am still growing as a teacher, I do many things well. I am proud to be in this profession.”
- The Academy fostered collegiality and resulted in close personal and professional relationships.
“I have always been close to my colleagues, but spending that much time with just a few peers has created bonds that will last years. I feel like I can go to my colleagues with any questions or problems I have.”
- Teachers spent more time collaborating with colleagues when they returned to their schools.
“It has been extremely rewarding to plan collaborative units with other teachers in other subjects, as well as share information with teachers in my own area. Our English department has become much stronger because all of the teachers are teaching from a common ground. Our terminology is the same, our expectations are the same, and students appreciate that there are no real surprises as far as the curriculum is concerned. We have been able to build on each year’s program rather than feel that we have to begin all over again at the beginning of each year. There is much more collegiality.”
- Teacher began to devote for time to curriculum integration when they returned to their schools.
“Major changes in my classroom instruction have occurred in this area as a direct result of my Academy experience. My teammate and I are teaching a geography/language arts integrated core program. Each quarter a major unit is fully integrated. This includes a common set of essential questions; literature, writing, speaking activities steeped in language arts process goals and geography or civics content goals; and an integrated culminating project.”
- Many teachers began team teaching as a result of the Academy emphasis on and modeling of this strategy.
“Before the Academy, this was not a part of my practice, nor was it a part of my vocabulary. Since the Academy I am now team teaching with an English teacher. Because of our pilot that ran a year, now the whole English and Social Studies Departments are teaming.”
- Teachers became proficient at developing curriculum using backwards design that focused on the important understandings they wanted to students to remember for a lifetime.
“I think the greatest gift I received from the Academy is in the way I organize what I teach. I can see that I cannot teach everything thoroughly. Hence, I must organize what I teach in such a way that it will be meaningful to the students and help them to think critically. Teaching students to remember facts, dates, events, and other trivia will not help them as much as teaching them to analyze why something happened and how it has affected the world.”
- Teachers developed a different philosophy about the purpose of assessment, planned assessments prior to instruction, utilized a greater variety of alternative assessments, assessed student learning more frequently, and engaged students in planning and conducting assessments.
“Since my team has begun teaching both backward design and reading strategy anchor lessons, we have begun to rewrite our tests. Instead of just asking multiple choice questions, our new tests force the students to think deeply about the enduring understanding for the unit, the essential questions, and the reading strategies we learned. The tests are harder to correct now because they are much more open-ended and ask for opinions. However, in the long run they benefit the students because we are now testing what we want them to truly remember the rest of their lives. The information has more relevance to the students.”
- Teachers incorporated a wide variety of reading strategies across the content areas.
“I had taught English for 21 years before attending the Academy. I had my BA in English and my MA in Education. I had taught literature, but I had never been taught how to teach reading. The reading strategies have opened up an entirely new aspect in teaching literature. The best part of learning the reading strategies at the Academy was we had an opportunity to try these strategies as we learned them. We spent an entire week going over these strategies in-depth. The hands-on experience as well as the in-depth approach enabled me to not only become familiar with the strategies, but to use them and learn how to incorporate them in my curriculum.”
- Teachers became more proficient at teaching writing, as well as emphasizing the importance of writing across all content areas.
“I am most excited about the things I have learned about teaching writing skills. Prior to the Academy, I will admit to being a lousy teacher when it came to teaching writing. I was very uncomfortable with writing and was also very discouraged by the amount of time it took to grade or read all that writing that I felt I should have my students do. From Academy I learned how to teach by using the 6 Traits of writing. I am now much more comfortable teaching the writing process. I do not feel the pressure to assess every single piece they write which has given me the freedom to let them write all the time, and only evaluate it once in awhile.”
