Career Life
Been to a new PD recently? Education specialist Lisa Murphy says you should hold off on implementing what you learned for at least ten days.
Why wait ten days before implementing new PD?
Sometimes the strategies presented in PD meetings seem too urgent to put off. It often feels as though we are expected to have our classrooms immediately up to par with the new methods presented. This pressure can breed resentment for school leadership. It can also lead to tired teachers putting the PD on the back burner indefinitely.
On the flip side, when we feel compelled to begin using new strategies at warp speed, we often miss key components that could benefit us and our students. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather grade a paper that’s a day late and well-executed than a rushed and error-ridden paper turned in ahead of schedule. Our teaching should never be rushed.
What to do while waiting:
During the ten-day wait, here are five great ways to prepare to implement what you learned in PD!
1. Research
Look into the methods being proposed. Are they the best practices according to recent studies? If so, learn as much as you can. If not, don’t try to fix what’s not broken!
2. Pay attention to your classroom
What areas are working well? What is lacking? Where can you fine-tune things to improve? Do any areas that need improvement align with the recent PD? Use the PD as a resource to target your students’ needs.
3. Talk about it with your students
It may not be possible at the youngest levels — no one wants a room full of confused Kinders — but, starting from upper elementary, kids are capable of sharing their thoughts on classroom practices. Allowing them to weigh in gives them a sense of ownership.
4. Consider the transition
Rather than diving in head first, figure out what you need in order to do this well. Supplies? More information? Administrator support, scheduling changes etc… Identify the needs of your classroom community and make sure they can be reasonably attained.
5. Communicate the upcoming changes
In addition to teaching any new expectations to your students, parents should be kept in the loop as well. You will have more support from your students’ families if you communicate with them. Let them know what’s coming, and help them feel included in the classroom community. Share the reasons that you know that these upcoming changes are best for their children. (You’ve certainly done your research!)
No two teachers or classrooms are the same. Let’s not push a one-size-fits-all agenda and crank out educational strategies on an assembly line. Rather, let’s trust our professional educators to thoughtfully reflect, and then implement what they learned in an authentic way that is tailored to their specific teaching styles and individual students.
By allowing yourself at least ten days after a professional development session, you will be able to decide which ideas are worth keeping — and which are not.
Come join us in the Empowered Teachers community for more discussions like this.
