Most professional learnings and developments are ineffective because it does not improve instructional practices or student achievement (Gulamhussein, 2013). Most teachers participate in professional development every year, however, most of them report that they are a waste of time and not easily implemented. According to Guluamhussein (2013), this is because most professional learning is a one-time workshop-style model that has minor impact on student achievement. Only 10 percent of teachers could transfer the skill to practice. This falsely assumes the main challenge teachers face is the lack of instructional practice knowledge and the goal should be to close the gap. While this is true that as teachers we should also be researching and learning about best practices, our greatest challenges is implementing the research-based methods into the classroom.
promoting alternative professional learning on campus
For professional learning to be effective at my campus, it is important that leaders explain the purpose and research behind it. I would start by making sure it aligns with our school’s goal and vision of making our students college and career ready. I would then show teachers the research and data to explain why we are making the change from traditional summer and weekend professional development to year-long collaborative professional learning.
Furthermore, I would reiterate to them that the focus is on instructional practices and student learning. The strategies or skills that they will be learning will be content-focus, and they will be actively involved throughout the whole learning process. They will receive support from coaches along the way. They will have a chance to observe the strategy or skill in action to see how they can successfully implement it into their classrooms. Walkthroughs by colleagues will be frequent and continuous and the feedback will be effective and collaborative. Teachers will be monitored until they have successfully implemented the new strategy or skill. And for teachers who are still struggling will get additional follow up, such as modeling, focused planning, and extra support (Bambrick-Santoyo, 2018).
inquiry-based learning professional development
There is clearly a need for more PDs centered on increasing rigor and higher order thinking in the classroom. These skills are essential for students to be successful in social studies. My call to action is to create an alternative professional learning that is inquiry-based where teachers could experience inquiry learning in action and then later apply these strategies in the classroom. Over the course of a semester, teachers will work their content group to discuss and model what inquire based learnings looks like and how it can be implemented effectively in the classroom. Teachers will propose a question about an inquiry-based strategy to use in their classrooms, such as the question formulation technique. Teachers will then work collaboratively with each other to research and devise a plan of action to implement these strategies. Throughout the semester teachers will observe each other and provide effective feedback. They will use this feedback to reflect, adjust, and formulate new questions based on the knowledge they gained. It is important for teachers to research and test out these theories, and they should also be encouraged to share their results and reflections.
References
Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2018). Leverage leadership 2.0: A practical guide to building exceptional schools. John Wiley & Sons.
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for Public Education. https://www.basicknowledge101.com/pdf/teaching%20teachers%20Professional%20Development.pdf
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