My Turn
Ready To Take the Next Step

My name is Margaret T. Patterson, and I want to be a Teacher Specialist.

By Margaret Patterson

South Carolina teacher Margaret Patterson has applied to become a Teacher Specialist as part of the state's effort to help underperforming schools improve.

"What are you up to?" the school guidance counselor wanted to know. This question after I had shown up in her office, the third day straight, to pick her brain on the subject of state standardized test scores.

"I like to chat about test scores, that's all," I said. "Lots of people like to chat about test scores."

"Oh no," she said. "You're up to something. Not even a die-hard teacher like you stays late three days in a row to 'chat' about test scores. No one chats about test scores at all. They whine, bemoan, decry, and complain, but they never, ever chat."

"Okay, I admit it," I said. "I am up to something. I want to know how to analyze scores because I want to be a Teacher Specialist when I grow up."

"Mrs. Patterson, you are 53 years old. You have been teaching more than 20 years. You have credentials, experience, and a history of helping students achieve. If you are not grown up by now, you never will be. Moreover, you're already a Teacher Specialist. You just don't have the title yet."

She knows me, this woman. She knows I fear the risk of failure. She knows my fears work against me. (Oh my gosh. What if I apply for a Teacher Specialist job and don't get one? And what if everyone finds out? I will be publicly humiliated.)

I want to be a Teacher SpecialistOn Site, and I am willing to risk having everyone know I applied for the position, whether I am offered it or not. (That sounds pretty good, I guess. Hope no one figures out I am s-c-a-r-e-d to death of r-e-j-e-c-t-i-o-n.)

I have applied for a Teacher Specialist position in my home state of South Carolina, where improving teacher quality is on the front burner and the gas is turned up high. Accountability is defined in terms of student achievement measured by state standardized test scores, and schools are scrambling for help- which is where state-sponsored Teacher Specialists come in.

The Teacher Specialist On Site Program is a component of South Carolina's Education Accountability Act of 1998. According to the state Department of Education's Web site, "After training, new teacher specialists are placed in a 'pool' and administrators of designated districts or schools (designated as low performing on state standardized tests) interview and select specialists to serve in their schools. The program then seeks to partner specialists with administrators to develop and implement strategic plans to improve instruction..."

If you want to be a Teacher Specialist in South Carolina, you are warned in the application packet that your portfolio should not exceed five inches. (FIVE INCHES!?!?) A little intimidating, one might say, unless one is an unrecovered risk taker. (Calm down, Patterson. The five inches included a 20-minute video of myself working with my students, those same little angels who couldn't behave themselves that long if you stood on your head and spit quarters. Spitballs stuck to the camera lens, tra la la la la.)

Why do I want to take on this challenge? I can answer that question in professional terms: I want to use my degrees and teaching experience in language arts in any way I can to help students achieve at higher levels. I can answer that way and mean it from the bottom of my heart.

Yet there is another reason that is more compelling to me personally. I have a daughter named Greta Patterson who is a third-year language arts teacher in an elementary school. I want to be a good role model for her, and for other young, enthusiastic teachers like her.

Risk, thy name is Teacher Specialist. Can I be true to you? What if, by some miracle, I am hired and assigned to a school in need of help? What if the teachers there don't like me? What if I schedule workshops on best teaching practices, lesson plans that align with state teaching standards and across-the-curriculum teaching techniques, and no one shows up? What if students make fun of my teaching style? What if the principal is unreasonable? What if test scores don't go up after months of work on everyone's part-kids, parents, and teachers? What if I get sick and die?

But those are self-centered worries. A real Teacher Specialist is not self-centered. A real Teacher Specialist facilitates unselfishly to help students and fellow teachers be the best they can be. A real Teacher Specialist is not afraid of risks.

My name is Margaret T. Patterson, and I want to be a Teacher Specialist.

Margaret Patterson has been teaching for more than 20 years. She currently teaches at Barr Street Middle School in Lancaster, South Carolina. Patterson also writes young adult books under her pen name, Terry Ward Tucker. She can be reached at mpatterson@infoave.net.

Editor's Note

I'd like to use my eighth and final column of the year to answer a few questions that come up frequently about NEA Today.

Why is NEA Today's size different from many of the magazines I see?
Most members who ask this are referring to magazines such as Time or Newsweek.

We could go that route, but we've found the current 10" by 14" format to be a good bargain for our members.

Printing on high-volume rotogravure presses, we get the maximum number of pages out of each roll of paper, with minimal waste.

We are both NEA members and we each get our own copy of NEA Today. Why not send just one?
Advertising regulations have a lot to do with this. We sell ad space based on our circulation. We have to deliver that number of copies in order to fulfill our ad contracts. If we limit NEA Today to one copy per family, we won't be delivering what we've contracted with advertisers to offer.

How far in advance do you prepare an issue?
It takes about six weeks to complete the editorial and production cycle on each issue. So the deadline for this issue was March 1, about two months before you received it in the mail. We work to cover late-breaking news, but we also have to make sure we meet our press schedule, which is set a year in advance.

I've written a book; how long before it's mentioned in NEA Today? Frankly, we're amazed at the number of NEA member-authored books we get. It takes about a year and a half after we receive the book to list it in NEA Today.

How do I get a story about my school in NEA Today?
Send your story ideas to neatoday@nea.org. Now's a good time, because we're planning our major features for the next school year.

—Bill Fischer