Want Quality, Not Buzzwords.

December 19, 2012 4:57 PM

Teacher/Educator Filter: Professional Development Resources? ...Social Workers, HR & Management, NPO people, Local Govt. Workers, Community Organizers, Policy Advocates-- I'm open to your PD stuff too!

I've been upgraded to fulltime status at my job which focuses on Adult Education & GED services.
Part of my new responsibilities is coming up with a library of Adult Ed Professional Development Resources as well as PD calendar for my specific site. Eventually, this library and my site will serve as a base of PD-distribution for four counties.

Since a state-level plan of PD is still in the works and hasn't been handed down yet, my program is forging ahead and going to create our own PD program and calendar. This is both really freeing/exciting and nerve-wracking. I don't know how to come up with a professional development curriculum! I'm not an expert in anything, and I want to avoid the typical lecture-format of PD anyway.

Anyway, to kick start this thing, my boss wants a list of books, curriculum, videos, activities, webinars, speakers, publications, memberships, etc. to purchase in order to create a library and database of info/resources. I've got a pretty sizable budget to work with and very little idea on where to start. I really want to create something that's helpful and engaging for teachers and/or supervisors. PD is usually seen as boring and non-relevant; I would like to combat that.

Here's where I need help: What are some professional development resources that you've encountered that you felt were worthwhile?

Example: CALPRO is something I would I aspire to. It has some free webinars available as well as some published studies, but I can't gain access to most of it because I don't live in California.

I'm open to content materials like Khan Academy and WorksheetWorks, but I'm really looking less for what to teach as opposed to how to teach better.

(and if anyone has any experience in building a PD curriculum, please message me!)

NON-EDUCATION PEOPLE! I have questions for you too!

I think PD should incorporate more than content delivery, so if you have encountered quality material that affected your job satisfaction/productivity and you think it might help someone who works with adults (in any field), please tell me!

Possible Ideas/Topics off the top of my head:
- diversity training
- disability and/or special needs (in society/classroom)
- authenticity and boundaries
- institutional racism/sexism/classicsm/etc. (in society/education)
- communication styles or strategies
- building community partnerships
- advocacy work (in education)
- program promotion and/or social media
- grant-writing/fundraising
- personality conflicts in the workplace
- peer or manager observation/review
- leadership style
- collecting accurate data
- communication and speaking techniques
- local economics and the effect on jobs/education/etc

posted by elleyebeebeewhy to Education (2 answers total)

I'd start by going to the Department of Ed's What Works Clearinghouse and looking at the programs with research behind them in areas you find relevant.

The two best PD experiences I ever had were going through the National Board process and Project CRISS, which made me feel ready to pursue National Board.

For National Board, you really do hit quite a bit of the topics you listed. You might be doing the process on your own or with a group but overall the process forces you to constantly asses what data you're actually getting from students, how are you communicating, and connections with students and the community.

CRISS was particularly interesting because you not only get a giant manual full of strategies (nothing new - just research-based strategies collected in one place with lots of variations), the entire workshop is basically modeling how to use the strategies and how to use reflection to help students start using those strategies without prompting (becoming independent and improving metacognition). Teachers go through lessons as though they are students - actually doing the work - and get the same "aha" moments they hope students get. I walked out realizing I had been using formative assessments ALL wrong. CRISS honestly changed my teaching.
posted by adorap0621 at 6:39 PM on December 19, 2012

It's not an answer that most district-level people want to hear, but the best PD is when teachers are given the chance to tell you what THEY need, and share the resources they already have. For example: I know how to use Google Drive, how to use simple scripts for grading/automated email delivery, etc. I produce my own writing process videos with my teaching partner, who lives 2,500 miles away and whom I have never met in person. I use Twitter as the most powerful connection to other educators I've experienced in the decade I've been in education. I run a blog about my classroom.

And my colleagues don't know any of that because there's no time for me to share with them, unless it happens in our own time. Our time has been devoted to RTI strategies, creating learning progressions, etc. There's no time to talk about the actual work of improving our day-to-day practice.

And that list is just what I could teach. The list my colleagues could create is probably much longer.

With that in mind: consider pitching the unconference model (like EdCamp) for some PD. Sorry that I don't have books to recommend there. The best way to figure it out is to go to an unconference.

The theory/model that has been most influential to me lately is Flip Your Classroom and Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay.

National Boards are a great answer too.
posted by guster4lovers at 10:08 PM on December 23, 2012