Professional Development

   Professional Development

       I would first like to say that the activity was so much fun! It really connected what we were learning during class yesterday and this concept will stick. Teacher professional development can oftentimes be boring. Depending on the timing of the professional development, teachers may think that it is a pain and they could be doing so many other things with their time. I have experienced this a few times over the last 2 years. When PD came around, I could see the look of annoyance on teacher’s faces and comments of “I could be planning or grading right now”. The purpose of attending these professional development sessions is to have the opportunity to make ourselves better. I embrace that opportunity to the fullest. I am always looking of ways to expand what I know about teaching and learning, professional development sessions help in that aspect.

       Over my 5 years of teaching, I have attended many different professional development sessions and the ones that stick out in my mind, were the ones that were fun and was something I could use in my classroom. I really enjoyed how “hands on” our activity was and this reminds me of a very fun PD I went to. The professional development I was able to attend was on Common Core Math and this PD came at a time when I was struggling to develop my own curriculum for my school. I was the only math teacher at the school, I was given the Common Core Standards and a good luck. I thought to myself “ I don't really know what these standards are so how can I make this fun?”. When I went into the PD I was pleasantly surprised by the hours we spent with our instructor. We did so many fun, hands on activities like learning to juggles and using manipulatives. It was wonderful and I was able to bring back so many things to my classroom.

       Another PD that reminded me of what we did yesterday was a technology one I went to in October. We learned the different ways to do a quick assessment in the classroom. We created our own games and played them as a group. Again, there were something that I could easily use in my own classroom. The instructor gave us easy to implement ideas and strategies rather than a lecture and a pamphlet.

       I wish professional development workshops were move vibrant and for the choices to be topics that are currently going on in the schools. It would be beneficial if more instructors did hands on, interactive activities with the teacher so we could use it as a tool in our classroom. Another idea for professional development is to give us teacher the opportunity to brainstorm with each other about ways we can bring what we just learned back into the classrooms. Isn’t that what these professional development days are meant for? For us to learn and implement things into our classrooms. I believe that if teachers had some time at the end of each PD to discuss ways to use what they learned in their OWN classroom, there would be less huffing and puffing about PD days and more excitement generated!