Professional Development of Value

In order for change to occur, we as educators need to do more than feel that our gut tells us the right thing to do. We have to be able make a case to our peers and to the public that supports our beliefs. This requires that we know the data of our own educational institution, and that we understand the culture in which we work. Having participated in and led professional development for thirty-seven years, I feel qualified to make some comments on delivering professional development in a way that actually effects the behaviors and actions of those who receive it.

I always felt that this sounds funny, to think that with all of the money and time that schools and educators put into professional development, it is automatically true that it impacts behaviors and actions of adults. Through observation and my own experiences, I have come to realize that professional development only can impact educators when it reaches them more deeply than we have thought necessary in the past. For this reason, I am suggesting that just like our students, our educators need to be provided information and hands on experiences with support if we want professional development to positively effect student learning.

I have shared with my college level students, district administrators, teachers, and parents that I see two types of learning experiences in place. First, is what I call academic learning experiences where the educators listen to or read the information that they are being expected to know and use. The second type of professional development, I call hands on learning because it requires educators to interact with the information in a variety of ways.

Hands on learning should include conversations between professionals; collaborative groups working through case studies or real current educational situations; or watching and discussing what the educators actually can see occurring at their own educational location. As an administrator or teacher, if I am faced with a sudden and unplanned crisis in my school or classroom, I can't respond by saying, "Let me see, Richard DuFour says in his book on page 66 that I should react in this way." This is not what happens in real life. What does happen is that we respond to crisis based on our own life experiences that are the same or similar to what we are now experiencing. Therefore, to prepare educators, we must provide them opportunities to work with hands on activities and within real situations as much as possible.

Professional development without the wisdom of research and experiences of others would provide us little value. We need to know what our options are. We need to have a toolbox as full as possible. But the full toolbox without the opportunity to use it, leaves us weak.

This is all leading me to the need for professional development around the topic of "culture change" in our schools and district. We cannot ask educators to make the changes that are perceived to be necessary without providing them with the training, understanding, and supports that will allow for cultural change to occur successfully. We cannot train educators solely by telling them what has to be done, and how to do it. We can give them added tools for their toolbox, and then provide them thoughtful opportunities to practice using the toolbox.

Change for the sake of change is useless and probably a waste of time. However, maintaining the status quo because we do not know of other options available to us is a greater waste of time and resources; and perhaps more scary. If our students are not reaching the level of academic achievement that we want for them, and expect from them, then we cannot continue to do the same old things in the same old way. We need to look at ourselves, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of what we do in our institution and then find the research and best practices that can help us to overcome the barriers that we have identified.

Learning for most people is a social activity. We learn and understand best when we discuss what we are asked to learn, and resolve issues in groups. Collaboration among educators is so important. Sharing leads to new thinking and new thinking amongst a small or large group will ultimately lead to a common vision of where we want to move for the good of the kids. Professional development that asks adults to sit and enjoy (or not) whatever is being presented for one hour is not professional development. We have to give people time to absorb and internalize, and I believe that only comes through shared experiences.

Perhaps your comments can help all of us learn of new ways to provide professional development to our peers. My guess is when we learn the best ways to educate ourselves, we will have found the best way to educate our students, as well. That we will leave for a later topic.