Getting ready for my career change I’ve spent a great deal of time reading about effective educational professional development or PD. As a public speaker, consultant and trainer I’ve given presentations to teachers all over the world. As a principal I’ve provided in-house PD for many years. As an educator I’ve taken more PD hours than is easy to count.
Research and best practice are agreed on some effective practices. Based on this research and my own thirty years of experience in public education here are some things I know for sure about effective professional development:
#1 Honor individual interests and needs, in other wordsdifferentiate!
#2 Learning must be deep purposeful & relevant.
#3 Presenters are best as curators & coaches.
#4 Including the four C’s … Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity … works for learners.
#5 Pre-teach/Flip/Don’t be a sage alone on the stage.
#6 Get active; experiment, create, integrate, play, reflect.
#7 Continue the conversation & the learning.
If you’re in a position to plan training for educators please consider these seven steps to effective PD. It is a privilege to present content and pedagogy to adult learners. Please make it effective and yes, enjoyable too. Our greatest responsibility as trainers is to personalize learning for each of our participants.
Keep reading
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/08/14/its-no-secret-that-most-professional-development-for-teachers-is-awful-less-well-known-is-that-some-of-it-is-great/
* https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?article=A+PD+approach+that+educators+love+(and+learn+from!)&articleid=446&category=Professional-development
* http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/02/02/what-do-we-really-mean-when-we-say-personalized-learning/
* http://www.pammarketingnut.com/2011/06/tweet-chats-101-41-success-tips-for-moderators-participants-guests/
* http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/08/21/what-a-student-learned-from-a-short-experiment-in-self-directed-learning/
* http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/12/13/5-best-practices-of-tech-leading-superintendents.aspx