Professional Learning Opportunities

I am currently in the course Developing Effective Professional Learning. We are studying how to deliver professional learning effectively. Research has shown that the outdated sit & get model of professional learning should be retired. This model is a waste of money and time. Schools must look deeper at the best practices for delivering these learning opportunities for teachers. 

Teachers deserve to have their time valued. They are already stretched thin as it is. Another fault of the sit-and-get model is that it is not differentiated into specific content and disciplines. Educators who may not even teach in the same grade levels or subject areas are required to sit through irrelevant professional learning workshops that do not pertain to them in any way at all. This is another waste of their time. If professional learning were to be specific teachers would be able to be more engaged to focus on their content and really get deep into the best practices available. A one-size-fits-all training is different from what teachers need. Almost every professional learning that I have been to was a one-day training. After the day was over we never heard about that topic again. This does not follow through with the support we need to develop the practice and implement the methods that were taught. 

I say all of this to ask, why not transform our professional learning model into a go-and-show? As I sit here and ask myself this, I even like the term "grow, go, and show" because that is exactly what a go-and-show model is doing. It is growing educators and allowing them to go and implement the practices we were introduced to. There are five key principles to effective professional learning. These key principles are everything that the go-and-show model entails. 

• The professional learning must encompass a timeframe that allows teachers to learn the new strategy and effectively begin implementing it in their teaching. 

• That support needs to be there in order for teachers to be able to address any obstacles that may arise in the implementation process. Hurdles will inevitably arise and educators need someone to be able to collaborate with in order to determine the best solutions to their issues at hand. 

• Educators should also be able to learn new strategies in a variety of ways. Not just by being told or reading about it. They need to see it, do it, and practice it. This is something that we expect from our students and we know that the most learning takes place when the content is delivered in a variety of ways so why would we expect any different from ourselves? We are learners too after all. 

• Modeling. Modeling a new practice is detrimental to teaching. We need to actively see what is expected in order for the best success. I would even go as far as to say we would benefit from being shown what not to do and misconceptions we need to know about in order to avoid them. 

• Last, but definitely not least, professional learning has to be specific. If I am teaching a class full of seniors college algebra, I will not gain much from a professional learning session covering how to teach kindergarten students their alphabet or the science of reading. However, if I were in a session with other 12th-grade algebra teachers, it would be fantastic. I would have opportunities to collaborate with teachers whom I could greatly benefit from. We could also provide support for each other with the new strategies we are learning. There are many benefits to professional learning being specific and not broad. 

 

After much research and readings on delivering effective professional learning opportunities, I can positively say that the go-and-show model is the way to go when it comes to best practices. We need to implement the best practices for our students, so why accept anything less for our teachers? 

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