Why I Spend My Summer Teaching Teachers

Posted in: Aha! Blog > Wit & Wisdom Blog > Teacher Engagement Professional Development High-Quality Curriculum > Why I Spend My Summer Teaching Teachers

As the sun set on a truly special school year, I was preparing for what my next steps were. Typically, teachers spend their summers either turning off completely and giving in to vacation mode—I’ve got one coming up myself here shortly—or engaging in a mix of side hustles and relax mode.

For the past four summers, I’ve enjoyed facilitating professional development for Wit & Wisdom®. I’ve been able to quite literally meet teachers from all over the country (Alaska, California, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Oklahoma). Here’s what I’ve learned: This notion that the profession is doomed, decaying, and/or dead is decidedly wrong. I’ve seen teachers eager to elevate their practice, push students’ potential to maximize outcomes, and enjoy the learning process during professional development.

Kyair was featured in an article in The74 earlier this year highlighting his incredible commitment and dedication to his students. Read Amid COVID, Closures & Zoom, a Teacher Fights to Preserve School Relationships, to learn how Kyair kept his students engaged and learning.

A core reason teachers I’ve met are still excited about the profession is because their school or district has adopted a curriculum that offers something that is new and different for them. Wit & Wisdom centers research, evidence, standards, and—above all—values, and it embraces the knowledge-building process. Internalizing the materials is intellectually stimulating, sharing learning with your students is powerfully fulfilling, and stretching your practice cements our purpose.

Education has shifted in both major and minor ways over the years. School and how we “do” school have fundamentally changed, and Wit & Wisdom capitalized on the change for the better. Equity is at the center of this change as the cast of characters and rich texts humanize themes that transcend race and place and instead focus on conditions we all experience. Yes, the texts offer an array of “windows and mirrors and sliding glass door” moments, but each text is a case study of the humanity in us all.

High-quality curriculum materials are equity. High-quality professional development that I’ve been fortunate enough to lead is equity. While schools must undertake their own journey to further interrogate and interrupt inequalities in their districts and schools, this curriculum offers both educators and students a platform or starting point from which this journey can begin.

My students in Baltimore both need and deserve the type of materials and rich texts this curriculum offers, much like the passionate teachers in rural Mississippi or Alaska want the best for their students. A truly grounding feeling for me is working with teachers and seeing their aha moment. I am used to these moments with students, and these moments are the ones that move me, compel me, and energize me. Seeing these moments with teachers renews a faith and rekindles a love for education that makes my summer that much more enjoyable. That we spent time together to get better at our practice for kids is powerful.

Read more posts from Kyair on the Aha! Blog

Diversity in English Language Arts Curricula

Making Distance Learning Work

A Blueprint for Breaking Barriers

The power of truly high-quality curriculum is that it has the lasting and notable imprint and impact of elevating students. In this case, Wit & Wisdom elevates the very people it’s meant for (students) and the people whose purpose is to help them understand it and be their best self (teachers).

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Kyair Butts

Kyair Butts is the 2019 Teacher of the Year for Baltimore City Public Schools. He teaches Grade 7 English language arts at Henderson Hopkins Partnership School.

Topics: Teacher Engagement Professional Development High-Quality Curriculum