The Commitment of Teaching
by Brad Richardson, IBNA regional director
Professional development should help us to rediscover our passion for lifelong learning and to kindle that passion in our students.

I heard Ray Bradbury speak once.  His speech, for the most part, revealed a vibrant and capacious thinker, and a salty and curmudgeonly personality. (I heard one participant behind me whisper to her friend, “If he swears just one more time, I am leaving!”)  I recall one admonition that sparkled in its simple insight and has stayed with me since.  He declared to the teachers in the crowded conference hall that our commitment to the teaching profession is the commitment to lifelong learning.  He required of us, as a measure of that commitment, that we should be reading all the time; that unless we were reading constantly, we were not good teachers.  “You should have novels, poetry, plays and biographies on your bedside tables,” he said, “in your hands, bags and briefcases.”   

I was a young teacher and this was my first foray into the world of professional development.  As you might imagine, his command made a lasting impression.  We all know that professional development is a big business.  I went online and searched under “professional development.”  I received a total of 7,160,000 possible hits.  I wonder how many of those 1,760,000 opportunities have we already attended, full of expectation and promise, only to find them wanting in every way except the time and expense we invested in them? 

We want professional development that will inspire our thinking and will renew our commitment to teaching.  Among the many objectives embedded in IBNA’s professional development, the most important are those that attempt to reconnect teachers to their commitment to teaching.  These guiding objectives aim to provide opportunities for teachers to reflect and share with other teachers who hold a similar passion for teaching, to enrich professional lives, to challenge teachers to take risks and ultimately to bring that passion back to the classroom and enrich the education of their students

As you read through the articles in this issue of the IBNA newsletter, consider the ways in which IB provides the impetus to stretch yourself professionally, whether through a commitment to lifelong learning, through initiating and sustaining a campus-wide culture of change or through supporting all children in school to be successful in the PYP.
[ return to top ]