Teachers for Teachers
As school days offer less time for prep and collaboration, teachers find what they need elsewhere—in networks all over the city
by Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
by Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
Like so many new teachers, Lisa Hantman entered the classroom ambitious and enthusiastic, with grand plans for how she would engage her young students at the very beginning of their school careers. What she lacked was the experience to bring all those ideas into the classroom. Hantman tried to turn to her colleagues for help—but found their teaching styles and philosophy so different from hers that they could barely communicate. “I’m an innovative teacher, and they were more traditional,” she recalls.
So Hantman sought out like-minded teachers from throughout the city through thePhiladelphia Teachers Learning Cooperative (PTLC), a network of educators that meets every six weeks in a member’s home to hash out real solutions to problems they face in the classroom. “It offered me a formalized conversation about how to become a better teacher,” Hantman recalls.
That was 37 years ago. Hantman, who now teaches third grade at George C. McCall School, is still a member of PTLC—as well as six other teacher networks around town. It’s all part of what she considers a vital piece of educating children in the city: Educating herself. “They help me hone in and perfect my skills with students,” she says. “From hearing other teachers’ stories, whether new or experienced, I learn to be a better teacher, and a better person.”
What Hartman and her colleagues recognized decades ago is truer than ever in Philadelphia: Teachers in this town need each other. Budget cuts over the last few years have left teachers with less time for classroom prep, collaboration with colleagues and in-school professional development—while more is expected of them and their students than ever before. Yet, professional development is consistently at the top of the list when education experts talk about how to improve learning for students. One study, in 2007, found that with 49 hours of “substantial” professional development, teachers can raise their student’s achievement scores by 21 percent. In Singapore, one of the top-ranked education systems in the world, teachers are guaranteed 100 hours of consistent, well-planned teacher training outside of school. They also interact with students no more than 18 of their 42 hours at work, giving them 24 hours for grading, developing teaching plans and honing their own skills, either on their own or with colleagues.
More and more, teachers are forming—or joining—citywide networks, coming together regularly to trade ideas. Estimates are that several hundred teachers in Philadelphia belong to at least 25 different teacher networks.
“Common planning time and collaboration is really important,” says Ami Patel Hopkins, Vice President of Teaching, Learning and Innovation at the Philadelphia Education Fund. “Here, teachers can’t do that as much during the school day. Even if it’s scheduled into their day, they’re often pulled to cover other classes, or to serve as nurses. We don’t have that culture with many of the schools.”
So what’s a Philly teacher to do? More and more, they are forming—or joining—citywide networks of teachers, from different types of schools, who come together regularly to trade ideas about an academic subject (Philadelphia Area Math Teachers Circle); or a political objective (Caucus of Working Educators); or mentorship (Teachers Lead Philly); or networking (PhilaSoup). Hopkins estimates several hundred teachers in Philadelphia belong Teachers for Teachers | The Philadelphia Citizen:
