Burbank teachers vouch for peer-to-peer training
The head of the Burbank Teachers Assn. spoke last week about the importance of experienced educators training new teachers and providing more opportunities for such interaction — particularly for teachers who have only been teaching for less than two years.
“The first two years are incredibly important. This is where you do all you can to nurture the teachers. Once those systems are in place — the teaching — it’s incredible,” Diana Abasta, union president, said during a Burbank school board meeting.
At the meeting, members of the Stanford-based Instructional Leadership Corps vouched for their work in facilitating events statewide in which teachers collaborate with their peers to improve instruction of the new state science, English and math standards.
Join the conversation on Facebook »
The Instructional Leadership Corps was established at Stanford University as part of a partnership with the California Teachers Assn., the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education and the National Board Resource Center.
“I know rather than paying external consultants to come in, you have a wealth of teachers in your school district that you can utilize to help you build a professional development capacity,” said Norma Sanchez, a member of the Instructional Leadership Corp.
Abasta said she hopes the district will expand its teacher training efforts to include more one-on-one mentor sessions and collaborative training events.
“This is what I would like to work on … so we can really leverage the professional capital that we already have in place, and even make it more meaningful,” Abasta said.
Follow the Burbank Leader on Twitter »
School board member Armond Aghakhanian said he supported the idea.
“It’s long overdue,” he said. “It’s necessary.”
Burbank school board President Larry Applebaum agreed.
“I think we all recognize the importance of having peer teach peer, of having mentors — people who really get it — going to classrooms of educators that don’t quite. The fact that they’re willing to say, ‘I don’t quite get it’ is not a liability. It’s embracing the challenge of trying to do better.”
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
