Individuals and groups can use professional development to broaden and/or enhance their knowledge and abilities as educators. Formal courses, seminars, and workshops are all examples of professional development (abbreviated as PD).
Professional development days are designated for the District on the academic calendar. Only personnel is allowed to stay at the school on these days to engage in professional learning and mandatory training.
What studies reveal about involving PD days
Even though most teachers work alone in classrooms with a set number of students, they collaborate with other teachers, program assistants, and principals as well as lead teachers, literacy, numeracy, and special education consultants, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and other teachers.
Daily lessons and plans are created and presented in response to the requirements of the children as well as assessments of their development over the previous days.
Students in the normal classroom come from many cultures, have varying levels of aptitude, have varying degrees of mental health, have varying social skills, have varying emotional needs, and have varying physical requirements.
That time is used by teachers to meet with parents and others to discuss specific student plans. They coach and arrange extracurricular activities. They grade students’ work and enter data into software like
To convey progress to parents and kids, they analyze student work and enter data into programs like PowerSchool and FreshGrade. They answer emails from coworkers, principals, and anyone who is important to the job.
Also, keep in mind that teachers have their own families. Wives, husbands, moms, dads, brothers, and sisters are among them. Their family time gives them the necessary balance to be cognitively, socially, and emotionally capable of completing their responsibilities as educators.
As a result of the nature of their employment, teachers require dedicated time to develop as professionals. All professional development decisions are made on the basis of the simple issue of how a teacher learning event would affect pupils. We rely on studies to determine which varieties of Parkinson’s disease are most likely to do so. Teachers (and most people, for that matter) learn best by talking and doing, according to studies. When instructors discuss difficulties, study research, and cooperate to construct lessons, activities, and assessments, the transfer to student accomplishment is more likely than when they sit and listen to a lecture. That’s why Pembina Hills’ professional development days are structured to provide plenty of opportunities for teachers to collaborate.
What a great PD looks like
- that is related to their scenario.
- that assists them in planning and improving their lessons.
- Teacher-led professional development.
- that incorporates practical methods that may be used in the classroom.’
- that persists throughout time.
- that recognizes that they are experts with important knowledge.
Tips for a great PD program
Here are the tips that are extremely beneficial in your PD program within the school day
- A simple way is a right way with the proper timing- Stick to one topic at a time. If you’re supposed to evaluate standards-based teaching/learning approaches and share best practices with newly recruited educators, for example, choose one of those areas to focus on.
It will stick if instructors are given the opportunity to comprehend and execute one sound method at a time. When there are too many ideas, they create noise. Choose one topic, delve in, and put it into action with zeal. The remaining topic(s) will be discussed at a later time.
Teachers must be present in both body and mind if they want extremely effective PD. While finding a time when no one is testing is becoming increasingly difficult, it is possible. Choosing the right time for a program is vital so that teachers and students as well get enough time, have less burden, and bring out the effectiveness of the program.
- Keep it meaningful: Teachers want the nuts and bolts as soon as possible. Right at the start of the presentation, give them the fundamentals of what they need to know. If feasible, use a visual model to demonstrate how this issue will affect them and improve student learning.
Demonstrate what has to be done if time allows: On the SmartBoard, demonstrate how to fill out a new district form or how to express learning intents or success criteria in student-friendly language. Don’t waste 30 PowerPoint slides trying to persuade instructors to do anything; instead, get to the point quickly.
- Connecting things- How does this professional development relate to what instructors are already doing in the classroom? They want to know if this content will flow effortlessly into what they’re presently teaching—and, if not, how you will assist them in making it fit with as little disruption as possible.
If teachers are required to use informational material in their classes, for example, be prepared to provide particular examples for each subject area. Offer to attend department meetings and design customized demos for their subject area. How will the physical education instructor include informational material in his badminton unit? Demonstrate how connecting things provides a chance for progress.
- Utilize the Lesson and Provide Feedback- Then, using a rubric designed for the class, we’d test out the lesson we’d developed at our PD session less than two weeks before and get feedback from a professional administrator or a peer. If you put off implementing it, you’ll never get around to it.
- Raise your game by taking another lesson- Teachers worked on another lesson after getting comments. This method of lesson planning, performance, and feedback are extremely effective. Not unexpectedly, crucial characteristics discovered in recent research were integrating new information, learning alongside coworkers, and actively participating in relevant dialogues (van den Bergh, Ros, and Beijaard, 2015).
- Keep it practical- At the end of the professional development, inform instructors that you are accessible to answer queries or discover answers if you don’t know them. Some instructors, particularly new ones, may feel awkward asking questions in front of their colleagues. Perhaps establishing a separate PD for new instructors once a month would provide a chance to answer their individual queries and provide excellent guidance tailored specifically to the beginner teacher.
Always write an email thanking your teammates after the PD. Include your availability and urge follow-up.
- Encourage Peer Collaboration- Our capacity to educate one another represents a significant untapped potential. Some instructors curate Pinterest boards and share ideas, but there is more we can do. Our teachers conducted a personal learning community (PLC) this summer and read Harry Wong’s The First Days of School. We met for lunch three times and taught each other the chapters. It was one of the finest training sessions I’ve ever attended, and we did it ourselves!
Professional development is an important aspect of enhancing your teaching technique. It is critical to learn best practices as well as put them into practice. You may improve a school by improving its instructors. That is something that effective PD can do.
Final thought-
The aim is to figure out how to make their next chance for staff development valuable. It is vital to demonstrate to teachers that their time will never be wasted and that their skill is critical to the school’s success.
I started writing on this Blog to share with you guys the tips, Facts and Research which I did in Education Field.
& Unlike Some Students, I loved Learning Since a very young age and the best part which excites me are the new Findings in this Field and Increasing more Knowledge.
- 7 Augmented Reality Tools for the Classroom - November 3, 2022
- 5 Ways to Improve Teacher Evaluation Systems - November 3, 2022
- Methods for Managing Late work in Classroom | Late Work Policies - November 2, 2022
