The good old days... and AFL

June... I quite enjoy retirement dinners, even though the speeches are often a bit long and there tends to be an over emphasis on the past. Its a bit like my father says, "The good old days: they weren't that good and you're not that old".

That said, it is great to celebrate someone's career, where they have come from, what they have done and the thoughts they leave us with. It is also a happy time; I have yet to hear a speech where the person is really sad about retiring!

In one of the speeches the host speaker took extra time to thoroughly describe all of the endeavours from the retiree's career, especially the past twenty five years. Later in the evening, after all of the formal speeches were completed, I was mingling with two respected colleagues, both of whom have thirty plus years of experience themselves.

Person A "Sure sounds a lot like what we are calling AFL"
Person B "True... but now it is better defined"

That struck me as an important distinction. Better defined means instructional improvement is intentional and conscious. This allows it to be more accessible which means it is more widespread. Widespread action is also called a "movement" which is what we have been looking for in education as we try to make changes for the better.

The groundwork for what makes good teaching is not new. Relationships with students, fellow teachers, principals and parents are still critical as they always have been. Having standards and pushing students to be successful will always be part of the equation. Add on the ability to strategically improve instructional practice collaboratively across a staff or district and we see a better system for our kids.