Professional Development

[badkidteacher]

I am a post-secondary educator (taught BD for 10 years) who is designing a professional development project. I was hoping I could get some feedback. What do you like/dislike about the professional development activities that you have participated in? What do you think should be done differently? Please indicate what state you are in, the content area you teach and your years of experience. This is a tremendous opportunity for you to impact how professional development is conducted in this country and the more comments I recieve the better so please pass this on to others. Thank you ahead of time for contributing.

[FrazzleDazzle]

The biggest problem I have had with professional development has been it's relevancy. I teach in a self-contained special needs classroom, and we will occasionally get PD that is supposed to be "one size fits all." It never fits me. I might not be the best person to answer because I am in somewhat of a specialized position, but I know that teachers from some other disciplines, like music, have said the same thing-- that the kinds of issues that PD addreses with the more academic areas is often a waste of time for them.

[Boxcar]

I wouldn't recommend a lot of lectures. Teachers usually like to interact and talk. Being that they are teachers, this makes sense. I'd consider smaller groups that meet the needs of specific departments in the school: special ed., science, math, technology, ect. I'd plan for more concrete activities and lots of back-and-forth communication. Additionally, have something like a flyer or brochure with the key points in it. It is hard to remember everything you hear, and a reminder sheet might make it easier to recall the great points you learn.

[FrazzleDazzle]

I'd consider smaller groups that meet the needs of specific departments in the school: special ed., science, math, technology, ect. That's what I was trying to say. Only more egocentric and not as eloquent!

[nandz238]

I hate professional development; this is my 2nd year teaching and every time I've gone to one of this PD sessions I've found myself among a group of teachers with no less than 5 years of experience talking about all this educational terms and concepts that some are completely new to me, so I have to be there feeling lost or asking for clarifications to common concepts and then it comes the "share" portion of the PD when I have to embarrass myself in front of everybody saying something that's still not even clear enough for me.

[Chef Dave]

I am a "retread." This is my 18th year teaching, although it's my first year working as a high school teacher.

I was an elementary teacher for 17 years but left the profession to earn a culinary arts degree and pursue a second profession in the food service and hospitality industry. It's been six years and I'm now back in education - this time as the chef instructor of a high school culinary arts program.

Part of the reason I left elementary education was because I hated "professional development." During my last year in Austin, Texas, I was recruited as a veteran teacher to work at an inner city school. The school had failed AYP for three years in a row and was at risk of being taken over. The district implemented a plan to address diverse needs by recruiting highly experienced teachers to work at this school. We were promised extra funding, smaller class sizes, and were told that we had two years to turn the school around.

We didn't get extra funding, class sizes were not smaller, and surprise-surprise, we were told that we had one year to turn the school around otherwise we would all be fired.

On top of that, the district decided that we needed extra in-service training. We had to go to Saturday workshops that were essentially meaningless.

I mean ... here we were. The least experienced teacher at my school had 8 years of teaching experience. Nearly all of us had Master's degrees ... and our in-service was teaching us how to write lesson plans? We were learning instructional methodology? WHY?

Instead of capitalizing on our individual strengths as veteran teachers, we were also told that we had to standardize our instruction. All teachers on grade level had to write lesson plans together and we all had to teach the same lesson the same way.

This effectively negated the point of hiring highly experienced teachers.

On top of everything else, the district said I had to undergo FOSS inquiry science kit workshop training. I told the district that I was already certified BY FOSS as a FOSS TRAINER. I had even conducted workshops in FOSS training at a private overseas American school ... but my district said that since I hadn't been certified by THE DISTRICT that I would have to undergo FOSS training ... again.

So ... after school I had to take workshops on kits that I had already used. I then had to take Saturday workshops that rehashed stuff that any experienced teacher would know. It was all pointless and meaningless and exhausting because I never had time to relax and unwind. My evenings were spent taking workshops. My Saturdays were also spent taking workshops. My Sundays were spent grading papers.

As an elementary teacher I think I would have liked workshops that were more relevant to my needs as an inner city teacher. Workshops on remediation techniques might have been useful ... save for the fact that my building administrator told me that I was a 4th grade teacher and was required to teach 4th grade instructional objectives ... never mind the fact that my kids were on a 1st or 2nd grade reading and math level.

I was told to teach division to students who couldn't multiply let alone add and subtract. Hello? Did any of this make sense?

Workshops that were relevant to my needs would have been nice ... but what was the point? I needed to provide remedial instruction but was categorically told NOT to provide remediation ... which made no sense at all.

I was so disgusted by this last teaching experience that I resigned and left the field of education.

I am now a chef instructor responsible for teaching culinary arts and supervising a student operated restaurant. I teach in a small rural community in southeastern Arizona.

A few weeks ago I attended a statewide culinary arts conference ... and it was a hoot!

Fifty culinary arts teachers from around the state met in Peoria which is just outside Phoenix.

Although most of the culinary arts teachers were former home economics teachers, I got to network with a couple of other chef instructors who actually had industry experience.

A Master chef gave us a talk on trends in the restaurant industry. He really knew what he was talking about and I enjoyed his presentation.

Two representatives from the Shamrock Food Company introduced new products. I had a private chat with them because I had seen their new products at a food show in Glendale only to be told by the local sales agent that he wouldn't sell any of these products to me because they were reserved for school cafeterias. I am still not clear on whether the local agent was mistaken or simply too lazy to look up the prices for these new products.

A hotel and resort CEO gave us an interesting presentation on the hospitality industry as it relates to the food service. One of the interesting tidbits I picked up is that the hospitality industry is hurting. It used to be that hotels could bring foreign workers in as guest workers for as long as six months. Use of guest workers helped fill positions that would have otherwise gone vacant ... but our government in its infinite wisdom has all but crippled this program by severely cutting back on the number of guest worker visas ... which means that restaurants will now be in direct competition with hotels and resorts for new employees.

We got to see a new culinary arts software package that included digitized video demos. We also got to look at a new textbook ... which was probably the least interesting part of the conference as most instructors in this state, including yours truly, seem to like 'Culinary Essentials.'

I enjoyed the workshop because it was relevant. It allowed me to network with other chef instructors. All of the presenters were highly experienced subject matter experts in their respective areas. Each presenter allowed time to interact with the audience by giving us the opportunity to ask questions. They didn't simply give their presentations and leave. They allowed time for questions and discussion.

Another thing I liked about the workshop was that the state director of culinary arts respected and valued our opinions and our feedback.

Unlike the last series of workshops I attended as an elementary teacher, she didn't talk down to us i.e. I'm the director of the state program and y'all are just piddly little teachers who have to listen to me blow wind because I am great and powerful and you're not ...

She talked to us as fellow educators. She actively solicited our opinions on trends in the culinary arts curriculum and workshops that we would like to see for future professional development.

I had a great time at this workshop and look forward to the next one. I left the workshop feeling even more excited about culinary arts than I already am.

[wig]

Some PDs are great, others are not. It certainly would not influence my decision to stay or leave the profession. The most useful ones I have gone to were the ones that:


did not have ice breaking activities - seriously! :(
was not a "one size fits all" (with the exception of Harry Wong's, none of the ones I attended ever did)
addressed my grade level and/or subject area
were practical - not full of theory
had handouts or a website to access handouts

[muinteoir]

Some PDs are great, others are not. It certainly would not influence my decision to stay or leave the profession. The most useful ones I have gone to were the ones that:


did not have ice breaking activities - seriously! :(

Very seriously - I don't know a single teacher who likes icebreakers


was not a "one size fits all" (with the exception of Harry Wong's, none of the ones I attended ever did)

Quantum Learning was another that was good for everyone, but that might be the end of the list:)



addressed my grade level and/or subject area
were practical - not full of theory
had handouts or a website to access handouts




That just about sums it up!!

[wtrafton]

We recently did an inservice with 2 other local districts. We all listened to a speaker then split up for 3 sessions. We were able to choose from a variety of things. We were able to join in something new and interesting to us or stay in our content area. One of our choices allowed us to meet with staff from the others schools in our content area and share ideas and concerns. It was very enlightening. Some things made us thankful for what we have and the way we run our programs, and other things gave us good ideas. I liked the collaboration.

[DarrenB]

I think any inservice needs a follow-up component for those interested in actually implementing the system, whatever the system may be. How many times have we attended an inservice that was a one-shot deal, which might have been motivational at the time, but as soon as we got back in our routines, we found it so difficult to make any lasting changes?

Pertinent, flexible scheduling, online, and with follow-up.

Darren

[MissTeach]

Out of my gazillion years of teaching, the professional development in our district is one area that has improved!!! We now have pd that actually relates to what we are teaching. We also have follow ups to most of our pd sessions.

One of the most beneficial pd sessions I have attended was where several schools joined together and offered a variety of sessions.
The sessions were taught by teachers who were still in the classroom! It was great! Teachers were sharing with teachers!!