In our state, we are “required” to obtain sixty hours of professional development per year. I know why. Do you? Just think about it…
If not required, some teachers would choose to not grow professionally. Some are quite happy to continue to do what they have always done, for they are quite happy with the “way things are.”
Tell me…is my theory wrong?
Then, there are those teachers who are high achievers, earning 100+ hours of professional development per year, and that is not counting all the, as I refer to it, personal professional growth they achieve, such as, the hours they spend reading materials from their professional memberships, the professional books they purchase and devour, and their involvement with online professional networks, including blogs and nings.
How can we help those who fight, if not literally, then verbally, to only get “what professional development they have to”?
According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,
Effective professional development is…
- Directly focused on helping to achieve student learning goals and supporting student learning needs.
- A collaborative endeavor – teachers and administrators work together in planning and implementation.
- School-based and job-embedded.
- A long-term commitment.
- Differentiated.
- Tied to the district goals.
The content of professional development programs is based on organizational needs. Research and best practice show that for continuous improvement, schools should focus on the following categories and the connections among them:
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This I agree with, especially the second bullet…a collaborative endeavor. Many teachers feel they have …no, they know they do not have any ownership in their professional development. They are told what to attend; they attend (with a negative attitude) and return to continue doing what they have always done. Unfortunately, those in the first bullet are those that suffer…the students.
Tell me…is my theory wrong?
This is on my mind right now because I just perused our summer professional development calendar topics that I just happened (yes, by accident!) to find online when checking our educational cooperative’s calendar. I wonder how many within our district have any ownership in that calendar?
I was in a discussion yesterday with an elementary teacher in our district who was bemoaning the fact that few, if any, of their teachers have bought into Guided Reading. She commented, “They {the teachers} do not want to get on the Internet and find the materials they need to make this work.”
She started the conversation…so I then chimed in….”Until they are provided the materials needed to make this program a success, Guided Reading will not ever be as effective as it can be. When you take away the textbooks, you must be willing to provide the teachers with other supplemental materials, for not many are willing to sacrifice all their free time creating units. It’s just not going to happen with very many teachers. Ever.”
Now, I wish I could go back and add to that conversation: “Those teachers would spend more time self-creating units, even if the district will not provide the needed materials, if they simply had had ownership in that program from its initial conception. “ People, more specifically teachers, will work for what is theirs, for what they have a passion. Yes, ownership. The cost? Just a little collaboration.
Tell me…is my theory wrong?
(Just a thought: are textbooks not a teaching tool? Yes, I know…another time, another blog post! And, oh, the wear and tear on the copy machines…)
Think I will get my calendar out and continue filling in my summer with the workshops required by my district…and all the others I want to either teach or attend. Growing professionally is a natural high for me, one I enjoy very much, so I will attend the workshops for which my district will pay and will pay for those they decline payment.
In the meantime, I will also continue collaborating with some teachers to create our first Conference for English Teachers…a dream I blogged about earlier…a dream that is coming true! A reality based on collaborative ownership. Now, that is a good thing!
