Rethinking Professional Development Options

Today's thinking was contributed by Carrie Sand.

Professional Development--two words that can elicit the worst of responses (eye rolls, groans, sighs) from even the most optimistic of us.

Why?

Well, probably because professional development usually equates a meeting...after school...when every click of the clock closer to 4 PM means an extra half hour of work at home that night instead of a bowl of ice cream and Real Housewives of Somewhere. Nothing is worse than leaving a meeting, one hour later, feeling like your ever growing list has just grown more.

So how to overcome the negativity around professional development. In theory it should be easy to answer this question: provide professional development that teachers feel is relevant and responsive to their current needs in a format that is convenient for everyone. BUT HOW?

To search for a better way, I fall back into some resources on my bookshelf. One in particular Becoming a Literacy Leader: Supporting Learning and Change by Jennifer Allen seems to call for a re-read of certain chapters. In chapter three, titled A Model for a Required Inservice Program, she states in regards to her professional development philosophy “success came only because I was willing to learn from repeated failed attempts to do something meaningful in those meetings.” So what are some ways that I’ve attempted to revitalize our professional development beyond the after school meeting? I use Jennifer Allen’s strategy and do an analysis:

 Reflect on past practices to determine what worked and what didn’t.

PD Option	What the option entails:	Pros	Cons	Overall feedback
Online: -Blogs -MyBigCampus -Google Drive	Utilizing web based formats for people to share discussions, thoughts, and resources, electronically.	-Gives people the flexibility to access information when it is relevant and convenient. -All information is accessible at any time ( You can’t lose your notes somewhere!)	-Can feel like “another thing to do” -Another place (like the million of sites we bookmark) that we love when we stumble on them, but never get back to.	- Good Method was sensitive to people’s time, but definitely needed multiple reminders of where information could be found. My suggestion is to get one “techy” person per team really into it and let that person be your advocate in team meetings!
Professional Development on Demand Bins	Creating bins or folders of books, chapters, articles, or web resources supporting areas of frequently asked questions.	-Ensures teachers receive access to best practices. -Provides a place where the resources have already been reviewed, organized by topic, and easily accessible. -Directly relevant to needs.	-Not a place people would think of first to visit when they needed additional support or had questions. -Sheets would end up on piles on desks,  never to be seen again (until clean-up time in June!)	-OK Most people didn’t have time to actively search out more information for own learning. Format worked best as resource that I could have on hand to deliver to those who I heard needing support in specific areas. Also the bins work best in a place where teachers frequently visit.
Staff Book Studies	The entire staff reads a book devoted to one topic of professional development.	-Gives everyone access to the same information and language. -Provides teachers a personal copy of the text, which supports the chance that they might go back and reference it at a later time.	-NO ONE reads for the appointed day. -Conversations during book talks are stale, forced, and generally unproductive. -The people who need the book the most, usually are the ones who don’t read any chapters at all.	-Probably won’t use again in the same way I think the book talk format is good for those who elect to participate, but conversations do not further thinking unless members are actively engaged (and reading)!

After this reflection, my determination is that I do use a wide range of options for professional development. I continue to remind myself of things I use to do because what works for one year of teachers may not be relevant or useful in a different year. I continue to support my philosophy that teachers respond to professional development best when it is driven by teacher needs and motivated by a teacher’s desire to learn more. Therefore, I think I am going to take my worst method of professional development, the book study, and re-think its options. I believe this method is valuable, useful, and a good practice for learning. How can I develop this method into a relevant, timely, and productive form of professional learning? In other words, if it works with students in my classroom why can’t I make it work for teachers??? Stay tuned, next month I will discuss my progress in my new approach for book studies. Wish me luck!