Tue 27 Sep 2005
Last week I “hosted” my first Early Release Day. In our district, we have 5 days a year when students are released 2 hours early so that schools may provide their staff with locally focused staff development. I am in charge of these sessions at my school (in theory, anyway). So here’s what I did:
- spruced up our meeting space with tableclothes in school colors
- loaded up each table with candy, cookies and chips
- provided sodas
- had hard copies of the presentation as well as all other necessary items to document their implementation of our SIP
- chopped the session in half–teachers had thirty minutes between dismissal time and the session start, and then the session lasted only 1 hour
According to all reports, teachers were pleased with the session. Many were kind enough to say so to my principal, and a few to me, personally. But here’s my question:
How do we define success in professional development? Is teacher satisfaction the measure? Having been a teacher for 18 years, I am pretty clear on what teachers want: speed, clarity and relevance (and yummy treats never hurt). However, isn’t the real measure based on what happens when these teachers return to the classroom? If they enjoy the session but choose not to implement the strategies, have I really succeeded?
October 1st, 2005 at 7:41 pm
I hope you did better than my district traditionally does. Here’s our schedule of events:
8:00 Free breakfast
9:00 Boring, irrelevant guest speaker
10:00 Seminar – usually a waste
11:30 Lunch
12:30 Seminar – usually a waste.
1:15 Dismissal
The only reason people go to these events is because they count towards recertification.
I’m not the expert, but I do believe that a teacher should be encouraged to seek out continuing educations utilizing local colleges. There should be some arrangement whereby a teacher can “audit” a course with appropriate attendance, thereby increasing the academic time in the classroom for the students, and decreasing the bureaucracy needed to set up these events.
I know how negative this sounds, but I’ve been to eight of these and haven’t learned anything. We need a change in our district.
October 2nd, 2005 at 9:20 am
Fred: I know what you mean. Most of the sessions I’ve attended over the years have been a waste of my time. Our district has shifted to a model that focuses on local school concerns, which works in theory. However, it’s not always easy to reach consensus on what exactly we need to be concerned with locally.
October 8th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
I always find if I have been given something sweet, I am much more receptive! Your session sounds right up my street. As for what happens when teachers go back to class.. If they enjoyed the session, they are more likely to have a go at what you taught them!
If a session is brief and to the point, containing something useful, I go straight back and try it. If it takes 3 hours to give me one useful thing to try, I have drifted off, not listened and so have no idea what to do!
I reckon your session was successful. Even if they are not applying what you taught them in their own classrooms, you cheered them up, treated them and gave them a few minutes to themselves. That was good for stress levels and therefore made them more effective teachers regardless of the content of your session.
Well done you. Can you come and train me?
Deb
http://littlemissteacher.blogspot.com