Comments on: How teachers cope with burnout

By: Bonnee

Bonnee — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:18:27 +0000

These teachers are very active participants in both the developing of curriculum units and in teacher leadership in The Teachers Institute of Philadelphia. All of them also have various other educational organization affiliations. You can search for their curriulum units on the site posted and/or view their work at http://www.teachers.yale.edu, as well.

By: Rebecca Ryder

Rebecca Ryder — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:29:27 +0000

I entered the teaching field late in life and without rose colored glasses about "saving kids", but regardless, I had a horrible first year experience which resulted in a full year and a half of eye twitches and sleepless nights. What got me through was 1. Determintation to stick with it and 2. Philadelphia Writing Project Summers I and II among other workshops and professional development courses. I've also got to add that one of the UPenn professors comments about expecting things to be "messy" is exactly what teaching is all about in poor urban districts. LIFE is messy, and all we can do is keep pushing to reach as many kids as possible. If we quit, we're literally failing the kids all over the city, not just those who have serious baggage which makes our jobs even harder than non-teachers can imagine. Sam and many others (through PhilWp) helped me get through my first 3 years as a new teacher, and without such supports and reaching out to other new teachers in the schools, I'm afraid we'll lose a lot of potentially good teachers.

By: Rita Sorrentino

Rita Sorrentino — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:14:11 +0000

Sam, Meagan and I participated in the Teacher Institute of Philadelphia for the past few years. Information can be found at http://www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/

Sam and I also belong to the Philadelphia Writing Project Information can be found at http://www.gse.upenn.edu/philwp/

Both institutes support the work of teachers and provide a network for professional development and growth.

By: Carol Rose

Carol Rose — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:35:11 +0000

The program that all three of these teachers are part of is not the Philadelphia Teachers Institute. It is the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) and they attended PhilWP's Summer Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. (I'm including this information should teachers contact you for further information about the program you cited.) Teachers can contact the Philadelphia Writing Project at 215-898-1919.

By: Erika

Erika — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:07:20 +0000

If you want to hear more from Samuel Reed you can read his thoughts over on the Notebook blog. His latest post is about his and his son's experiences with passing classes. http://www.thenotebook.org/blog/091430/mastering-mediocrity-are-we-really-passing-kids