Improving Professional Development for Educators
JACQUELINE WATSON
An administrator once said to me “Try being more innovative with your lessons, use Google to get ideas”. This statement left me feeling two ways. First, I was feeling confused as to why the main resource for innovation is Google. Second, I was a little disappointed that I was expected to know what innovation is and how to do it to the appeasement of this administrator. While Google is a great resource, and it certainly has helped me in lesson planning, it cannot be the only resource for professional development (PD).
If the school community is called to be more innovative in the classroom, then teachers should be educated on what that looks like. Educators need to be taught in the same way that they are asked to teach their students, in a differentiated and authentic way. Teachers need to be able to make it relatable to the needs of their classroom and the school community. However, that type of professional development is hard to come by these days. Do not get me wrong, I have had some great PD experiences with nationally proclaimed authors and educators who are considered the best in the business. On the other hand, I have had a lot of PD that was not effective or applicable. The idea behind PD can be purposeful, but the execution is what matters the most.
What should we be looking for in our PD experiences? The first step into making PD more innovative is having it meet the development needs of the teachers, because every teacher is at a different stage in their career and development (Bozkus & Bayrak, 2019). PD needs to be personalized (Rodman, 2019). School leaders are called to acknowledge the variation of teacher needs, otherwise PD will continue to undermine their potential to be innovative (Rodman, 2019). The blanket concept of teaching and learning should not be used in the classrooms, and therefore should not be used on teachers.
Second, establishing a space for teachers to collaborate, share experiences, seek advice, and brainstorm new ideas is crucial for professional development. This could easily be done in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), which provide meaningful and authentic learning and relationships between members (Rodman, 2019). While this is not the traditional PD approach that we are accustomed to, this is certainly grass roots innovation at its finest. Teachers can learn just as much or even more from their colleagues that could be more applicable to their classrooms. PLCs can provide some of the strongest PD for teachers because it provides space and time for them to discover, play, and practice (Rodman, 2019).
Third, professional development should be sought out by teachers, not just forced upon them. This is an opportunity for teacher leadership within the school community. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 2014 found that $18 billion is spent on PD and a typical teacher spends 68 hours each year on PD activities (Rodman, 2019). If that amount of money is going to be spent and that many hours are going to be engaged, then let’s make sure that the teachers are getting what they need and also what they want. An invested educator is an innovative educator.
While these three steps are very basic, that does not negate their importance or effectiveness. This is a good start to get the ball rolling in your school communities. I encourage teachers to work with their school leaders to establish PLCs and gather data on what is needed by each teacher, and also what the school community wants in order to provide and build innovation. Innovation starts with collaboration.
References
Bozkus, Kivanc, and Coskun Bayrak. “The Application of the Dynamic Teacher Professional Development Through Experimental Action Research.” International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, vol. 11, no. 4, 1 Mar. 2019, pp. 335–352.
Rodman, A. (2019). Personalized professional learning: a job-embedded pathway for elevating teacher voice. ASCD.
ICI Center for Education Innovation 