I haven't published a thing since April! What a bad blogger I am, huh?
I don't have a good excuse -- a number of poor ones -- for being so inconstant with my blogging and as a guest teacher friend often says "It is what it is.", whatever that means in this instance. Since I make very little as a guest teacher I cannot afford to invest in the years of therapy that would be needed to get to the bottom of my lack of motivation and inspiration to keep up with my blogging. I will state, for the record, that I enjoy the process and so, will blog on.
On that note, Eugene Association of Substitute Teachers (EAST) meets today for the last time this school year. So far there are only 22 guest teachers confirmed to attend with 10 thinking about it, 10 have replied with a 'no'. So, where are the rest of our guest teacher colleagues? I don't know but 122 of those we have email addresses for have not replied to the evite. That number makes me wonder, are most of our emailed messages going into the 'trash' rather than regular email? I feel a need to get to the bottom of this situation and would love to hear from guest teachers on where they are finding (too late) the EAST emailings because we want as many of our folks in attendance as possible because . . . We have a lot of information to cover in the EAST meetings these days -- and have had -- what with the change in the teacher license renewal rules in regards to the drop in recency (days worked) and the move to a CPD (continued professional development) requirement for all licensed teachers in the state. Big change and not an easy requirement for all 'unemployed' teachers to meet.
For a number of years we have been fortunate to have access to CPD via both the Eugene Education Association Professional Development Seminar Series and Lane ESD. On occasion, I know that there are times when our guest teachers can take part in school site professional development when working and Eugene School District 4J workshops and seminars sometimes fit our schedules but I anticipate a bit of a CPD log jamb coming up in the next few years.
I see a great (well, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration) rush for CPD when all substitute teachers realize they really do have to have 25 PDUs (professional development units) for each year of their license to renew; 10 PDUs/year for substitute teacher and some provisional teacher licenses. I feel fairly certain that at this moment many more of our colleagues know little or nothing about this recent turn of events than those who do. As is often the case and, I believe it is human nature we tend to be skeptical when first told of something we don't want to face. Oh, don't get me wrong, I believe we are all 'lifelong learners' and embrace the opportunity to learn, take professional enrichment and be informed but on our own terms and, I predict reluctance to take the situation seriously today will lead to a sudden rush to fulfill the requirement tomorrow.
Tomorrow starts in 2013. The phase in for this change begins in January, 2013 so anyone renewing their teacher license next must have a year's worth of CPD. Mark my words, people will be caught unaware and unprepared. That is one of the reasons I am concerned when so few of our guest teachers take advantage of their association and miss the meetings. Folks! Use your association or risk losing its benefits.
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