At Roosevelt, our small school had no fewer than 12 external initiatives and directives pushed down onto the classroom teachers over the last school year. This meant that we had to set aside our collaborative work to learn how to give tests, review our new (and old) district policies, etc. etc. A real professional development PLAN is unified according to a school's Single Plan for Academic Achievement, or some other student-centered goal. When we are dealing with such tiny budgets, and student need is so great, who does the planning, delivery and followup? Who shelters us, so that our precious time is spent looking at and discussing student work? I'd encourage every teacher and every administrator to consider saying NO to using banked, PD or other staff time for compliance. It's so much nicer for everyone when "trainings" are set up so that they do not intrude on face to face teacher time.
Lynne Formigli - 11 years ago
Science department is currently doing lesson study under a grant. We're actually bringing the English teachers in as well to try to collaborate around the common core. I think it has great potential for success. I really enjoyed last year's lesson study with just science teachers. Other PD is really inconsistent. For example, all PE teachers had to take water safety last week even if they work at a site with no pool because they had no other place to tell them to go.
At Roosevelt, our small school had no fewer than 12 external initiatives and directives pushed down onto the classroom teachers over the last school year. This meant that we had to set aside our collaborative work to learn how to give tests, review our new (and old) district policies, etc. etc. A real professional development PLAN is unified according to a school's Single Plan for Academic Achievement, or some other student-centered goal. When we are dealing with such tiny budgets, and student need is so great, who does the planning, delivery and followup? Who shelters us, so that our precious time is spent looking at and discussing student work? I'd encourage every teacher and every administrator to consider saying NO to using banked, PD or other staff time for compliance. It's so much nicer for everyone when "trainings" are set up so that they do not intrude on face to face teacher time.
Science department is currently doing lesson study under a grant. We're actually bringing the English teachers in as well to try to collaborate around the common core. I think it has great potential for success. I really enjoyed last year's lesson study with just science teachers. Other PD is really inconsistent. For example, all PE teachers had to take water safety last week even if they work at a site with no pool because they had no other place to tell them to go.