Professional Development for teachers is an essential requirement of the job. Every year, without fail there is a range of training programs to attend. Not to mention updates, policy and curriculum changes, and new and improved ways of doing things. And now we must implement all of these in the classroom.
Well, this year has been no exception. There’s a steep learning curve on the technical and virtual classroom learning fronts. How many of you slept through last year’s virtual classroom learning professional development course? And thoroughly regretting it now!
Professional development comes in many shapes and sizes. Some are put on by the schools themselves. Then there are some covering aspects of policy, regulation, and curriculum that we must now be aware of. And many of these are online. And to round things out, there are those offered through professional memberships and organizations.
School-Organized Professional Development
Let’s take the school-organized professional development first. Rather annoyingly, it is often at the end of a very long day of teaching. You are just hoping to start working your way through the admin side of your job. Alas, no, you must go and be talked to by an expert in who knows what who will teach you how to do who knows what.
Teachers make the worst students, don’t you know? Or perhaps it’s because they know what a teaching session should involve. How it should flow and how it should be engaging. Sadly, we’ve all sat in soul-destroying sessions. Professionals delivering monotone lectures that are heavily lacking in inspiration. Yet here we are, ticking that mandatory professional development box to maintain our teaching certification.
So how do we react in these sessions? Are you the quiet one falling asleep in the back? Or are you the chatty one rudely talking over the teacher? Perhaps you’re the sulky one with a face like thunder putting the teacher off? As professionals, we generally sit politely listening to the teacher, while internally reviewing the delivery of the lesson. Examining quietly what they are doing wrong, and what they could be doing better. Am I right?
Well here’s a thought. When it comes to filling in those questionnaires and forms at the end, TELL THEM. Tell them that you thought the delivery could do with some oomph. Suggest that they could consider implementing ABC in their course. If you are going to complain about it, at least tell them how to try to make it better. Don’t sit with a face like a fizz! You’re there and that’s that. You are a teacher, so provide constructive feedback on their delivery. And remember, many of the professional development specialists are not teachers. They are professionals in their field. Education technology, mental health support, health, and safety. Whatever it is, sometimes presenting information is not their day job – so give them a bit of a break.
And if teaching is their day job, well thank your lucky stars that you only have to sit through one professional development session a term or year with them, some poor people have them all year round!
Professional Development that INSPIRES
On the other hand, sometimes professional development sessions can completely blow us away. They can leave us feeling re-inspired. We’re raring to go with all the innovative ideas that we have come up with. Weekend and day sessions, a day out of the classroom to reflect on what we’ve been doing, take some time out with a trainer who is a real coach, an inspiring teacher who fills you with creativity and ideas on how to turn your classroom into A+ city.
These professional development courses link you up with like-minded people, give you the opportunity to share best practices and learn from other specialists in your field but in different school settings. Trying to get solutions to math teaching problems for example from your colleagues who teach English and French and History might just not work, but talking with a room full of Math teachers, well they get it, they understand what your problem or barrier is, and together you can thrash out the problems, brainstorm solutions. And then there are that last twenty minutes spent writing a ‘to do’ list for when you get back to work… I will redesign my resources to reflect ABC, I will create a new process for XYZ… full of good intentions, yet forgetting the mounting to-do list that is growing just with you being away for that day.
So, Professional Development – a Box-Ticking Exercise or An Opportunity to Develop Skills?
Well, I think it’s a bit of both.
It’s a bit of luck on whether you pick a good or a bad one, who’s on the course with you, who’s teaching the course, how many choices you have in the courses you take, and how many opportunities you have to implement the ideas that you discover during the course.
But one thing’s for sure, even the smallest of skill development is worth it. Even the one new teacher friend and contact you gain from it are worth it. No industry, including teaching, stands still, there are always new ways of doing things and new technologies to support delivery- thankfully following this crazy year – and let’s not forget – dinosaurs are extinct for a reason.
And taking the chance to be the student for a change as a teacher is a great opportunity to reflect on what makes engages you, what bores you, and what inspires you… because whether you are picking up good skills or identifying bad, at the risk of sounding like a teacher, there is room for learning everywhere!
