@ptacvoice
  • Home
  • Apply
  • About
  • Officers & Directors
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Contact PTAC
  • Calendar
  • Stakeholder Request
  • Testimony
  • Solidarity and Action

PTAC VOice
​The Voice of Teacher Leadership In Pennsylvania

THE BLANK CANVAS

2/17/2021

0 Comments

 

BLOG POST BY PTAC MEMBER REBECCA GIBBONEY

Picture
Picture
​Elena Aguilar states in her book Onward that it takes about “10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become a master at something as complex as teaching” (p. 239). 

And yet, here we are, teaching through a pandemic--a pandemic that has turned our Picasso masterpiece into a blank canvas. Fall of 2019, I would not say my canvas was a masterpiece, but it was a work in progress. However, as I sit here almost a year since we were isolated by the pandemic, I stare at a blank screen--a blank canvas, not exactly sure how to write my thoughts on paper, not exactly sure how to reach you. Like many of you, I have so many questions. 

Yet, my questions target a different audience --YOU! 

As a former teacher turned professional development provider, I have so many questions. Some have answers. Some seem impossible. Some still have me holding onto hope. 

How can I create professional learning opportunities that do not feel like one more thing for educators?
How do I help educators believe they are enough?
How can I…


My incomplete masterpiece in the past could not possibly be the exact same work of art in the future. I had to let go. I had to find a way, one brushstroke at a time. 

A yellow streak, understanding new learning management systems. 
An orange streak, turning professional development opportunities into professional learning opportunities (yes, there is a difference) through gamification.
Blue streak here, there. Green streak.
Asynchronous. Hybrid. Synchronous. Remote.

Slowly but surely, my blank canvas is getting some color. 

Each of us has a blank canvas. All we need to do is pick up a new brush. Perhaps, try a whole new paint. We all need to paint through our unknowns and sometimes beyond the lines, new perspectives; because with each stroke, we will create our own kind of masterpiece. 

The ultimate question is, what kind of masterpiece will you paint? 

Aguilar, E. (2018). Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Pennsylvania Teachers Advisory Committee

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    July 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Apply
  • About
  • Officers & Directors
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Contact PTAC
  • Calendar
  • Stakeholder Request
  • Testimony
  • Solidarity and Action