In-Service Training Seminars and Workshops

One day a month, Hamilton High School releases its students around noon in order to
provide in-service training for teachers. These in-service seminars and workshops vary each
time they take place, ranging from Smarter Balanced Training to School Improvement Planning.
I wanted to reflect on my experiences of the first in-service training I took part in, which had to
do with effective practices in the classroom.
The seminar began with a Classroom Effective Practices Checklist. The checklist
aimed to ensure each teacher was creating effective procedures and rules for their classroom
environments. It also addressed homework completion and assessment strategies.
After we completed the checklist, a series of videos by Rick Wormeli were shown on the
big screen in the Performing Arts Center, where all the teachers met for the seminar. Wormeli
addressed an issue that every teacher has to deal with, late work and homework completion. I
had never realized it before, but now that Im in the classroom I see what a big issue homework
can be. Students are sick, gone for school sponsored activities, or their parents want to go on a
mid-semester mini-vacation. This leads to the issue of late work, which is enough to drive any
teacher insane. Wormeli asked teachers a very important question; if its important enough to
assign, isnt it important enough to turn in late or have the option for a do-over?
Although his argument had validity, it was obvious that many of the teachers were furious
about Wormelis videosHis ideas are romantic in theory, but how long has it been exactly
since this guy has been in the classroom? Does he even realize what would happen if we started
allowing mass amounts of late work and re-dos?
I compared Wormeli to the transition I faced once I was out of my Education classes and
beginning my Student Teaching. As I learned about various theories in the classroom, I talked
endlessly with my peers about what I would and wouldnt do in the classroom. External

rewards? No way. Why would I reward a student for what they should be doing anyway?
Because Im in the classroom, Ive realized how disconnected the theories and realities can be.
Dont get me wrong, I still have extremely romantic ideas of how I think education should be,
but Ive also seen how it is. Ive realized that sometimes you have to offer students chocolate in
order to get them to be productive. Ive realized that class competitions are the best way to get
kids interested in the daily lesson, even though they should be interested purely because of their
excitement about education. Ive heard people say that if you, the teacher, create lessons that are
inspiring and interesting, you wont have to worry about students misbehaving or not turning in
work. Its a romantic idea, but its also too much of a blanket statement. Children are people,
and people vary in what they want and what they think is important. As hard as you try, there
will still be students who have better things to do than reading that chapter you assigned the day
before. Because Im an idealist, Ill keep trying for that 100% graduation rate and that 100%
work ethic, even if it may never be a reality. Maybe one day, Ill have a classroom that surprises
everyoneincluding myself and my students.
I really enjoyed what Wormeli had to say and I really want education to be like he
described it, but we need to start setting smaller, reachable goals; drastic change in education
isnt going to happen overnight or even in the next year. Yes, we need to visualize the bigger
picture and know what we want the end of education to be, but for the most part we cant even
agree on where we all want to end up as a society. In that way, education is a lot like politics,
even though it shouldnt be. Were all fighting for different ends, even though fighting for
different ends is ultimately tearing apart our education system.
Wormelis do-over concept really helped me realize how I want handle some types of
student work. In my future classroom, I plan to have a do-over application format this point

Im thinking it will be primarily for tests and/or speeches, but I may revise that condition in the
future. A student will apply for a do-over, and if I read over the application and approve it, the
student will have the ability to re-take or re-deliver a piece of work. I want to implement this
into my classroom because I think Wormeli is rightif a student isnt grasping the concept of a
lesson or unit, I need to be able to take a step back and help amend that.
Im hoping that the school I will be employed with in the future will have these types of
in-service activities. Most of the schools I talked with at the Educators Career Fair identified
various training sessions that would implement Common Core in order to reach specific
standards. Its so true that educators are lifetime learners. We continue to expand our knowledge
of our content areas as well as new teaching methods that just might inspire a student who hasnt
been inspired before.