Toll

Cathy Toll, My Story

Parker Palmer writes about each person's "birthright gifts," those qualities that are with one throughout life and appear to be inborn. One of my birthright gifts is a sense that people do not have to be miserable and a desire to reduce the misery in the world. Growing up, I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but it was when I was in high school that I realized my mission as a teacher. I looked around and saw that many, many students were miserable in school, some showing it by being passive and others by acting out. However, I noticed that the teachers seemed unhappy as well. I had good teachers who tried to engage with students, but there was something wrong. For all too many students and teachers, school was a place that didn't make sense.

As a lifelong educator, I have come to understand why it is that school makes some people miserable. Too many of those who spend their days in schools, both teachers and students, feel unseen, silenced, disconnected from what matters to them. No one intended schools to be like this, but they often are. My professional goal has been to help make school make sense for the children and adults who spend their days in them.

I began my work as a classroom teacher and taught students in elementary, middle, and high schools. During that time I accepted opportunities to serve as a teacher leader, thus working toward my goal of making a difference for teachers as well as students. This work continued as I became a curriculum leader, reading specialist, school principal, university professor, grant director, and consultant. In several of these roles I began using coaching tools as I partnered with teachers and supported them to meet their goals.

When it was time to pursue doctoral studies, I knew from the start that I wanted to focus upon teacher professional learning. My attention centered upon questions about how to support teachers' learning, as well as questions about why so many efforts toward "professional development" were unsuccessful.

At that point in my career, I had no doubt that teachers were the key people in helping students to succeed in school, and I knew that I wanted to devote the rest of my career to considering how to support teachers' work.

An exciting turning point in my efforts occurred when I began coaching educational coaches. In this capacity, I found myself helping teacher leaders to partner with teachers in ways that were unique to my work. I recognized that I had a book "in me," a book to help literacy coaches understand coaching and develop strategies for effective coaching. This book, Surviving but Not Yet Thriving: Essential Questions and Practical Answers for Literacy Coaches, became a best seller as I discovered with joy that I was helping to define the field and the work of coaching in schools. I have since written three more books for literacy coaches and those who support them.

My work is now expanding beyond educational coaching. I know that coach-like work will continue and will contribute in important ways. However, the dire straits of many school situations can be altered even more through a broader consideration of teacher learning. My work in this area has been shaped particularly by Parker Palmer, Etienne Wenger, Dorothy Holland, and Brent Davis, to whom I am grateful. From their work and the work of many others, and based upon my own experiences, research, and theory, I have developed the AIM Model of Professional Learning. It will shape the consulting and writing that I do for years to come.

About Toll