Link Roundup: Better Professional Development
The world is in a constant state of change. Technology pivots every month. Research uncovers more effective learning strategies. Student populations shift. It can be hard to keep up with everything!
Professional development, or PD, involves continual study in your field. For teachers, this may involve learning about how to teach, help students, use new technologies or navigate specific challenges within the classroom. PD can take many forms, such as social media posts, blogs or webinars. It might look like a visit to the library or to a conference center.
Sometimes PD is mandated by administration, requiring specific time commitments. Sometimes PD involves self-study, with you keeping up to date on technology or changing up your teaching practices. Sometimes you’re delivering the PD for your school.
In the following links, check out various resources centered around making professional development better. While many of the linked resources have an administrative focus, considerations of effectiveness can also help make self-study more fruitful.
“Great Teaching and Learning: Creating the Culture to Support Professional Excellence” from the National Education Association
The National Education Association, or the NEA, is a widely recognized organization for educators in the United States. In this free report, the NEA offers a perspective on PD that is grounded in community. For policymakers, the shared principles offer a look at the ways in which culture affects not only teachers, but also students. For self-studiers, finding ways to change culture from within — if possible — may be a key to better PD.
“6 Practical Steps for Improving Professional Learning” from Edutopia
From backward planning to creating buy-in, this post considers some of the teacher-level components of good PD. While at first this might seem less helpful for self-study, embedded links can lead to useful reflection. For example, when planning your PD, do you keep andragogy (adult learning) in mind? Administration will also find the ideas valuable in how they focus on making sure teachers feel respected. Edutopia offers a wealth of other ideas under their “professional learning” tag.
“Spaced Practice for Skill Learning” by The Learning Scientists
The Learning Scientists is a blog devoted to the science of teaching and learning, and this post is written for students needing to learn new skills — very complementary to professional development! The big idea is that spaced practice is effective for developing skillsets over time. If you are self-studying to learn how to do something, such as how to code, principles from this post may be useful for your long-term PD goals.
“What Works — and What Doesn’t — in Teacher PD” from Education Week
This post, which dives into a study on professional development for educators, considers what makes said PD effective. It’s most helpful for PD planners looking for actionable advice, but for self-studiers, points such as having follow-up meetings with teachers can be easily translated as seeking out mentors or creating peer-to-peer discussions about what you’ve learned.
About the blogger:
Jesika Brooks
Jesika Brooks is an editor and bookworm with a Master of Library and Information Science degree. A lifelong learner herself, she has always been fascinated by the intersection of education and technology. She edits the Tech-Based Teaching blog (and always wants to hear from new voices!).
