Are our motives in alignment??

Vincent Williams

This summer got me thinking about motives.  I know that I genuinely want to help the community.  As I have been going through a variety of training and professional development, I noticed that I do not see many of my building colleagues.  Recently, I started to get involved with the NEA.  Wow! I was blown away by the things I was missing out on.  My first three years I was teaching and paying dues to the association but had no clue that I was even a member.  I went to two different leadership development trainings, one in Savannah and the other in Boston.  Both were great!  The one in Boston was the national conference and they had a smaller conference on racial and social justice before the main assembly conference. The conference was empowering and enlightening.  The information was relevant, with impactful discourse taking place.   Why wouldn’t others want to partake in something like this??

Many of my building colleagues complain about the lack of relevant professional development that the school gives on the early release days.  The educators’ association provides some better development and they do not want to take advantage.  However, there is more than just the professional development and protection.  There is an opportunity to learn more about the education sector and see what other areas there are available to get involved within the sector.  There are policies that need to be changed and we need educators from the classroom to speak up, vote, and be in a position to either influence or change.  If we are here because we are concerned about our children’s future and want to make an impact on the community, then let’s do it all the way!