It seems to be a given that professional development is a must for the continuing growth and progress of teachers: witness the plethora of resources and attention devoted to it on the federal and state level. Knowledge in our fields is constantly growing and changing, and ideas on how to effectively teach are ever-changing, so if we want teachers stay abreast of these swings of the pendulum and be able to incorporate them into our work, we must have access to dedicated time during the year for professional development.
At my independent school, I’ve had access to some wonderful professional development sessions through AIMS, which comprises over 120 schools in the MD/DC area. One that stands out for me in particular is the annual Making Schools Safe workshop, which has greatly informed my work in sponsoring our school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, but also has helped me think carefully about making my classroom and school a safe place for all students. I also had the thrill of presenting at the AIMS annual conference one year, which I hope will only be the first time I get to share my efforts with other teachers, and have heard some inspiring AIMS sessions in the past as well.
I try to keep a running “wishlist” for different aspects of my professional career, and my PD dreams include attending NCTE’s annual convention as well as someday presenting there, and publishing lesson plans on sites like ReadWriteThink and the NEH’s EDSITEment (remember, it’s my dream list!). I strive towards presenting and publishing for several reasons; I have gained so much from the contributions of other teachers, that I want to be able to return the favor for the greater community of teachers as well. However, I think that striving towards this also helps me work towards being more creative and rigorous in my teaching as well, so that I have something new and valuable to bring to the conversation, and keeps me invigorated in a profession that can be notoriously draining.
I’ve heard/read teachers before who say they take the whole summer “off” from going into school or going to workshops, but while I do log many pooltime hours, the summer is when I have the mental space and energy to do some of the big-picture thinking about my teaching practice, the kind of meta-thinking I just don’t always get to during the school year. Professional development has been a big part of that, inspiring more of that big-picture perspective and giving me the tools to put ideas into action.
In fact, I just returned from an amazing PD week-long session that I’ll blog more about soon. It’s inspiring just to be around the kind of teachers who flock to PD sessions, who are dedicated and creative and thought-provoking, who are able to tell me about a story I’ve never read or give me a perspective on a text that never occurred to me. I took so many notes and pictures during the week, and even on the plane ride home, I was jotting down ideas and connections to better plan the upcoming year. Who knows how much I will actually realize for the fall, but I know what I’ve learned will continue to provide inspiration for years to come.
Related articles
- 23 Things for Professional Development (variegatedstacks.wordpress.com)
- Baptism by Fire ~ A Newbie’s ISTE ’11 Reflections, Part One (coalcrackerclassroom.wordpress.com)
- The cpd23 things for professional development (thechineselibrarian.wordpress.com)
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I agree with you, though I think I took on too much PD this summer.
But I seriously don’t get people who do nothing in terms of PD either during the school year or during the summer. It seems like they’d become stagnant.
There can certainly be too much of a good thing!
Yeah, heading into my first year at FGS, I was really frustrated at the many folks in my department who took the summer “off” in all ways, which meant that they not only weren’t doing PD themselves but also weren’t available as I was trying to gear up for my first year of HS teaching. Frustrating! (We’ve hired two teachers for next year, and I sent them both an email a couple of weeks ago to say that I’m around this summer if they have questions or want to talk.) Which isn’t to say that I don’t believe in enjoying the summer — I do!
This is the first summer in a few years in which I am not getting out of town for a specific PD workshop or event, and in a way it’s been nice to have some extra downtime … but I’ve also been making a list of future workshops I want to attend in the next couple of summers, so clearly there’s a part of me that’s itching to go have a PD adventure! One reason that I didn’t apply to go anywhere (other than the fact that one event I did inquire about was already filled, so it’s on my list for next summer) is that I felt the need to reflect and modify this summer, rather than to forge new personal/pedagogical paths as I’d done the last couple of summers. Having gone through my first year of AP Comp, I’m really enjoying thinking through the past year and making plans for next year. And next year I’ll be teaching one section of our sophomore course again, which I haven’t taught since I did one section in my first year at FGS. So I’ve got a lot of small changes on the horizon, and it’s felt good to have space and time to think about them. But I do want some adventures next summer!
I believe in enjoying the summer too–it’s always been my favorite season, and I soak up as much sunshine as possible to carry me through the darker months (literally and figuratively). And I certainly believe in reflecting/modifying rather than always entirely rethinking–this past PD session is helping me modify how I teach a book I’ve taught twice before, for example. Part of me thinks that I’ll spend the summer entirely at home next year, but who knows what will turn up between now and then?!
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