"No one can become a master teacher in isolation"

A desire I inherited from my grandmother Jessie is a love of plants—gardening, growing flowers, and saving dying houseplants.  Every spring, I set myself to filling flower boxes and clay pots on my front and back porches. When choosing flowers to grow for the season, I do consider color combinations and trying new plants I’ve never grown before, but when shopping in the greenhouse I head right for the plants that require full sunlight—six hours or more per day.  I don’t just make this choice based on the conditions of my porches; in fact, I actually place my plants in certain configurations so that I can successfully grow those flowers that thrive in full sunlight.  The plants that love full sunlight are the most beautiful and long lasting.
 
So it is with teaching--those who flourish in full sunlight are heartier. One of the pillars of City on a Hill is public accountability.  We invite and welcome visitors to see what we do. As teachers, it is expected that observers may visit us at any time. In a job that can often be isolating, it makes a difference to a teacher to have an open door. Like a stuffy house on a hot summer day, opening the classroom door can let in some fresh air. Openness allows a teacher to think about what the class looks like to an observer, and the very presence of an observer helps a teacher reflect on his or her own classroom management, routines, and instruction.
 
At City on a Hill, we also push each other to become better educators by observing our fellow teachers.  Each year, our teachers observe and are observed by their colleagues three times.  Last year, COAH teachers spent 160 hours observing each other.  That’s 160 hours of teaching in the light. After the observation, the two teachers meet with one another in pairs to discuss the class and the observed teacher asks for feedback within the context of his or her individual professional development goals. Since I’m counting, that’s 160 conversations about improving instruction every year. Such openness is not common in traditional district schools, I can assure you.  In far too many district schools there is a culture of privacy, closed doors, and maintaining the status quo.  City on a Hill has strived to break that down--to let in the light.
 
As the director of City on a Hill’s teacher certification program, I begin with the new teaching fellows in the dog days of August by going over the basic tenets of our school’s teaching philosophy. The tenet that sticks with me is the most is “No one can become a master teacher in isolation.” A school that does not design itself with this in mind cannot be successful, and a teacher who hides behind the darkness and privacy of a closed door will not flourish. After years, there may be growth, but the teacher will never fully bloom.
 
As educators strive with the increasingly difficult task of raising our nation’s children to the highest levels of achievement, we must let in the light. The most successful schools will be the ones that cultivate a faculty of master teachers that teach in bright light, open for all to see and discuss. Like my porch where I have to rearrange the furniture and placement of pots to allow sun-dependent flowers to thrive, so too must schools structure their professional development, schedule, and school culture to allow for teachers to observe and be observed. City on a Hill works hard to let in the light and develop a faculty that thrives in such an environment.

 If you would like to see how it can work, visit us and tell us what you think.  Be the light that we need to thrive. Come take a look at what we’re growing this year.


Ben Conrick is an English teacher and the Director of Teacher Development at City on a Hill.  Having taught at City on a Hill since 2004, he also supervises City on a Hill's Urban Teaching Fellowship and Peer Observation Program.  With 15 years in education, he holds a BA from Fredonia State University and an MA from the University at Albany.