Scrambling for Voice, Choice, and Agency

August

This is a year-long email conversation between two teachers.

Chapter 1

August

From: Chance
Inservice training for 1st and 2nd year teachers
To: Kerry sent - Gmail at 9:57 AM

Hi Cousin Kerry—

You were right. The inservice day was a total waste of time. Stan Tofarr led it. I wonder if his middle name is Dards. Stan Dards Tofarr is the perfect name for him.

Unbelievably, he spent half an hour on the wisdom of using clear pushpins rather than colored pushpins on bulletin boards. Is he a throwback or what? The kids in my class usually come up with the ideas for what they want to do with the bulletin boards. It always has something to do with what they are learning. They like using a stapler. I have never noticed what color pushpins they use.

How is school life with the new principal? I have heard good things about her.

More later…

Chance

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From: Kerry
Re: Inservice training for 1st and 2nd year teachers
To: Chance sent - Gmail 2:00 PM

Ugh! I can’t believe that you had to sit there for half an hour and hear a lecture about push pins. It is things like standardizing push pins that demoralizes teachers.

Wanda, the new principal seems fine. She has set up a meeting for next week for us to talk to her about what it means for this to be a teacher-powered school. She is curious about our vision. She wants to know about the fifteen areas of teacher autonomies that we have developed.

We don’t want to overwhelm her so we are thinking carefully about just how much to bring up at that meeting.

We are still totally annoyed that the district would send us a new principal who knows nothing about teacher-powered schools.

Must go…keep in touch

Kerry

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From: Kerry
Becoming a Teacher Powered School
To: planning team sent – Gmail 3:30 PM

Hello TPS Planning Team committee members:

The planning committee meeting will be in my room tomorrow at 3 PM. The goal of the meeting will be to come up with an agenda for the meeting next week with Wanda.

Let’s not spend the entire meeting complaining that the Superintendent did not honor our request to choose our own leader.

Wanda seems fine. If we can bring her up to speed on all of the work we have been doing for the last two years, I think we will be able to hit the ground running when schools starts.

Kerry

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From: Kerry
Re: Becoming a Teacher Powered School
To: planning team sent – Gmail 6:30 AM

Hello Planning Team—

From all of your angry emails about the meeting today, I see that we are going to need to spend at least half the meeting discussing how irritated we are that Wanda was selected as our new principal. I agree with all of you. I am angry, too…

The discussion about Wanda might take the entire meeting.

I won’t stop the conversation, and I promise to not keep saying how I was hoping we could move beyond our outrage and accomplish something productive.

I’ll see you at 3 in my classroom.

Kerry