Saturday, April 21, 2012
Professional Development
For the last several years, the state of NC has not allocated money to school districts for professional development. Based on your own experiences participating in various kinds of professional development, do you think that this was a bad decision? Should schools and districts put money into professional development activities, or is professional development usually a waste of time?
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I think it all depends. A lot of the professional development that has been provided by my district has not be that good. However, I have attended some wonderful PDs. For example, I went to Colorado for the Keystone Institute for a week one summer and received the most wonderful training. I was able to bring back what I had learned, share it with other teachers, and actually implement the lessons and strategies. (Btw, all of y'all should look into attending. You get a grant to go and can typically attend with someone else in your school or any other educator. The total package is $3000, and you bring home $500 in lab materials. It's not just for science, either. It's interdisciplinary. I hiked the Continental Divide...holla! It was an AWESOME PD). I have also attended excellent trainings on science kits through CIBL. So, I suppose the common themes to the PDs worth the time and money are that they are relevant to my teaching, something I want to do, and ultimately benefit my students. The county and school often provide generic PDs that are a waste of time. I'd rather be in my room planning. So, taking away money from that is fine with me. The only PDs I find worth attending are those tailored to meet my needs for student learning.
ReplyDeletep.s. I did not do this during class...it's actually 12:48 :-)!
DeleteThe lack of money for professional development is one in the long list of assaults on public education... (no raises, cutting teacher salaries in 2009, no pay raises, trying to kill teaching fellows, trying to kill Governor's School, 5 extra days to the calendar, and now making it harder for NCAE members to pay their dues.) That last one was just plain meanness on behalf of the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteWhereas the PLC model and the idea of shared leadership champions a degree of in-house staff development, sometimes you have to bring in initiatives from outside the school. The biggest problem that I see is that one-shot staff development doesn't leave much time for buy-in and often is not followed up. That can be a quick waste of money.
Oh yeah, and did I mention no raises?
DeleteI agree. I feel that if professional development is going to be viewed as a major priority then funds need to be allocated to reflect this notion. To me, this correlates with quality teachers as well. However, often times in education we want to place something as an importance, but we don’t want to allocate funds to represent what we deem as being important, such as those examples Phillip listed. Until we start putting the “money where our mouths are” so to speak, then we will continue to see lackluster results (i.e. professional development and a shortage of quality teachers). Consequently, professional development will, and continue to be viewed as a waste of time.
DeleteI think it depends on the staff development and the timing. Over the years I have attended some staff development that I felt was a waste of my time. Other times, I attended great sessions, but because I did not have time later to think about implementing what I learned... that was a waste of money too. In my opinion, the best staff development is one that is relevant to me, addresses the values and goals of my school, and allows me either collaborative time or even alone time in the future to think about how I want to implement what I've learned, and time again to reflect on the effectiveness after implementation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jodi 100%. I have all too often been forced to sit through PD sessions that were a complete waste of time and lacked relevance to what I was teaching and or hardly was applicable to aid in better practices in the classroom. I have on the other hand had the luxury of attending some fantastic PD activities that have helped me tremendously. Providing a PD "just because" in attempt to be certain that the teachers are all present and accounted for are the worst. Admin teams need to ascertain the relevance of any PD for their staff and some just may not apply to all, and they should be ok with that.
DeleteI also agree with Phillip that to remove financial support from PD for teachers is an assault on education. Teachers must continue to be learners to cultivate earning, even in this "the test is most important" view on education.
I am in agreement with Jodi. I have had many PDs that have been a waste of time. All of the PDs my school has done this year have been a waste of time. We actually had a great line-up of PDs at the beginning of the year (ex. differentiation in the classroom) and I even based my PDP around this professional development but there was no follow through which disappointed me greatly.
ReplyDeleteMoney does help in some professional development but I have some great in-house PDs, using the teacher experts in the building, that have been very beneficial to me. I am just like our students. The professional development I have gotten the most out of is when I get to select what kind of PD I want to have. One Early Release day in a previous school year, we had a technology day in which teacher experts would present two one-hour sessions to teachers who were interested in their particular expertise. Teachers got to select which sessions they wanted to go to. For example, a couple of teachers showed other teachers how to get the most out of SmartBoards, another teacher showed all the tools that could be used on Google, etc. That staff development was differentiated for teachers and was one of the days where I heard the most positive feedback about the PD during our plus/delta session at the end.
The notion that professional development is a waste of time is exactly the kind of assault on teacher professionalism that Phillip is talking about. My experience might give me some insight to the kind of professional development that I believe will work, but it is irrelevant to the question of whether or not the field of education should invest in professional development. Of course it should. In any professional discipline, innovations emerge and new ideas are presented. Teaching is no different. The ineffectiveness of professional development, more often than not, is a problem of leadership. Sometimes the problem comes out of the principal's ineffectiveness. If school leaders are not reflective about the purpose of professional development activities, then they stand a much higher chance of selecting something that does not resonate with teachers. Sometimes, the leaders of the professional development activities are to blame. Too often, workshops and seminars are, ironically, plagued by poor teaching practices, so teachers leave feeling insulted instead of enlightened by a new skill or a new instructional method. Even if we assume that the best professional development comes from within the staff, financial commitment to this brand of PD is still in order. Time is money, and if educators are expected to school each other on new developments in the field, then the time and energy necessary to do so should be compensated in some way. It is my hope that the defunding of professional development in education is more of a grim economic reality than a philosophical and political statement.
ReplyDelete-Al D.
I totally agree with you Al! While I am completely confident that there are faculty members that have some great ideas and could develop amazing PD trainings, the bottom line is that the past several years have lead to these faculty members being used and abused. "________________" can do that! (insert name of hardworking teacher the district now leans on to provide their training). This year my motto for this kind of task became "just say no!" because I was personally exhausted after working on PD material without being compensated. In my school much of the professional development falls on our instructional facilitator, who is literally unable to operate her power point on 21st century learning - sad, sad times.
DeleteI agree with Philip. I believe that the lack of funding for PD is insulting. Furthermore, Wake Co. locks teachers into an inflexible work calendar that gives teachers no flexibility to "swap" days to attend PD without giving up more of their personal time. School districts should absolutely provide for PD!
ReplyDeleteI believe that, as a school leader, I should look at PD the same way I look at delivering quality instruction or establishing the culture of my classroom: trust my teachers, allow them choices, nurture them as a learning community, create a sense of urgency, and stay out of their way once they are on a role. (some principles of Daily 5 literacy framework) I believe that this is how I honor teachers and encourage and support their desire to be lifelong learners and to build their skills as teacher leaders.
I agree with both Phillip and Katie.....not providing funding for PD is an absolute slap in the face. I do realize that there are occasions when PD I've attended has proven to be less than valuable to me as a teacher. I think if proposed PD matches and enhances the school's vision and/or even encourages or touches the State's goals.....it should be financed. I agree with Katie's admin goal to "trust my teachers, allow them choices, nurture them as a learning community, create a sense of urgency, and stay out of their way once they are on a role."
DeleteI find it absurd that so many non-educators find it a waste of money to have teachers experienced PD that exposes them to new ideas and possible educational and technological innovations.
I agree with Katie and Phillip. I do understand constraints of budgeting, however, I do believe that it is imperative for teachers to grow from year to year. At the same time, I also agree with what Sarah said about how the same teachers cannot continue to be "used and abused" to pick up the slack for the lack of funding. Understanding how to balance the budgeting issues/personal issues while also allowing for PD within and out of school will probably always be something that an administrator will need to work on juggling.
DeleteI think staff development can be meaningful when it is in line with the school's improvement goals which have hopefully been set as a staff. Additionally, I agree with Al that staff development duties often fall on the shoulders of competent teachers who are already in the building. Several years ago many professionals in my position complained about the lack of compensation for this so it was written into our job descriptions. This changed nothing except to now make it an expectation that I deliver staff development. Whether or not I receive the necessary training is irrelevant to the powers that be. While I do believe using professionals within your building is a good use of resources, it doesn't always prove to be an effective use of time. Professional development isn't a waste of time if it is well chosen. School leaders should follow through with PD to determine its effectiveness in the classroom as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Phillip and Katie, it seems to me education is the punching bag for politicians. They show little interest towards education, professional development, or teachers for that matter; but always turning towards education, teacher salaries, state benefits, etc. to look for money to take back or not provide the necessary funding to help us to be able to provide a valuable education for all students. I think that professional development allows us to continue to be lifelong learners, and it was a bad decision for money to not be allocated for professional development. It seems that every year there are mandates regarding the education arena that require more training for teachers and others, however they (politicians) are not making any changes to help us....they only are hurting the future generations and making sure their bank accounts and other wealthy counterparts accounts are untouched.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first got into education, I heard the saying that “teachers make the worst students”. I really did not believe that until I attended my first professional development. Many of the most strict and regimented teachers were inattentive (talking during the presentation, doing personal or school work, surfing the internet, or texting). The reason for being inattentive was that they, “aren’t going to use this” in their classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think that many professional developments are a waste of time and money. Most people dread going to mandated professional developments because they are not catered towards the needs or wants of the teachers (subject areas or in general) or are not realistic to implement. Instead, the sessions tend to follow the latest trends in education and/or are led/organized by someone who is trying to promote themselves. In addition, many of the trainers do not actively engage the audience or get them to buy-in to what they are presenting. The teachers who attend the trainings either pretend to pay attention or distract themselves (e.g. playing on their computers or communicating with their neighbors at the training session). In my observation, very few teachers utilize the resources provided at the professional development unless the school or district mandates that the teachers integrate the resources or there is some accountability attached to the training. If teachers had more of a voice in choosing the trainers or topics for professional development, then the price would not matter as much.
Phylisha Sanders
I think the state has not considered how they will measure the effectiveness of PD. We have a full time staff member who was hired primarily with those funds, and I am not a better teacher today than I was last year. It's unfortunate that such a young and eager staff is not getting meaningful support, and this blog is our first opportunity to voice frustration. I think it is critical that PD funds are allocated, but even more critical that schools are accountable for their worth.
ReplyDelete-Katie H
It depends. I do not see the lack of professional development dollars as an assault on public education. Merely a choice that has been made to keep as many people as possible employed and class sizes from getting larger. However, there will be a cost of lack of ongoing professional development. Our faculties and school leaders will not have the exposure to ideas that may stimulate change in practice, leadership, and student achievement.
ReplyDeleteI fully support the PLC as a model of "just-in-time" staff development. The collaboration among teachers in PLCs allows for professionals to learn from one another. As a member of a PLC, I have to be open to learning from my colleagues and willing to share my own resources with them. However, if PLCs are the only professional development within the district, teachers may not be exposed to new ideas or ways of thinking.
Others may be like this, but I need to attend some one day sessions every now and then, away from the district, and lead by people I dont know simply for exposure to new ways of thinking and new approaches. The conversation in my head benefits me tremendously and stretches my understanding. The day away typically pays dividends.
However, if we want professional development to stimulate and sustain school-wide or district-wide change, it must be ongoing and not a one shot deal.
The lack of professional development funding has caused schools and districts to become creative in supporting the professional learning of faculty. It has caused us to rely on the skill sets and knowledge within the district and schools instead of going to professional development events.While it has been stressful, much has been gained from this - increased in teacher leadership, a recognition of others' skill sets, and increased collaboration.
For me, teaching is a lifestyle choice. If I want to continue to be an effective teacher and leader, I am responsible for my professional growth. I need to read Ed Leadership. I need to read books related to my field. I need to seek out the free webinars. But, I also need a mentor that is willing to reflect with me. I need a supervisor that recognizes my potential, provides me the appropriave level of challenge, and reflects with me. This is the best kind of human development for me. It would be great if I was able to go to a conference every now and then, but not necessary.
Bud
I understand the decision to cut professional development. I do feel that it puts teachers at a disadvantage. I feel that professional development is good if it is meaningful. I have sat in many professional developments thinking that it was a waste of time. I have also sat in professional developments where I have thought that this is great stuff. The funding being cut has forced schools/districts to become more creative about how professional development will be provided. The reality is that we have to have the CEUs for our license renewal, so in one way or another professional development has to be provided.
ReplyDeleteJanika Davis