Seriously, ANOTHER meeting that could've been an email?!
As a former teacher, I can't tell you the countless amount of meetings and/or "professional developments" I was required to attend that literally could've been sent in an email or printed and put in my box. Preparing sub plans and leaving my students in the hands of a substitute just to arrive to a meeting where I felt my time was not respected, is on my list of things I loathe (to put it politely).
Now that I am in a new role as an instructional coach, I do NOT want to repeat this vicious cycle (ok, maybe that's a tad dramatic). So, how can I plan and implement purposeful, meaningful, and intentional professional development training sessions that keep teachers engaged and empower them to take their new learning back to their classrooms?
The most important step when reflecting and then designing a professional development, or any training session, is to determine the model you want to use. "Good models offer guidelines and can ensure a level of quality and uniformity by providing a means of comparison" (Brown & Green, 2019, p. 8). In almost all of the trainings where I tend to "zone out" or wish I were elsewhere, information is presented through a combination of lectures, presentations, and reading texts. This traditional method requires learners to do the best they can with the content and typically there is little thought on editing or improving the actual training itself (Brown & Green, 2019). Thinking about the professional development I plan to deliver at the beginning of the school year, the best model for me to use to plan is the Systems Approach Model due to the way in which it emphasizes the importance of examining and refining instruction and also allows for improvements to be made (Brown & Green, 2019).
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| Dick & Carey's Instructional Systems Design Model (Image created by April Maner) |
So now that I have my planning model in order and I know where I'm going with my teachers, I have to make sure that my content is engaging and so that the information remains relevant to the teachers. I recently read a book called The Interactive Class by Kristin and Joe Merrill. Let me tell you, this book has completely transformed my line of thinking as far as bringing technology not only into classrooms, but into training sessions with teachers.
"Sometimes, amongst the slides, the gradebooks, the meetings, and the numbers, it's possible to lose sight of the extraordinary impacts of your work. I can't think of anything more impactful than helping someone learn" (Merrill & Merrill, 2020, p. Foreword).
I mean, WOW! What a statement! Then it hit me, there really isn't anything more impactful than helping someone learn and that is exactly how I want each and every one of the professional development sessions to be for teachers: impactful.
Strategy #1: Build a Sense of Community
During a recent presentation I gave for our district's MERGE conference, I used a website called Typeform to bring in an interactive aspect of my presentation from the very beginning. Participants answered a quick, funny opening survey to lighten the mood and draw in their attention. Typeform is a way to embed surveys of all types directly into a presentation. The survey questions can be asked all at once or one question at a time to allow for the audience to answer in real-time, which leads to open dialogue within the presentation. Using a tool such as this allowed me to gauge my audience and for them to gauge my presentation style and personality. Since I will be going into new schools this year with all new teachers, I think this would be a great tool for me to use during our first PD session together. I want them to get a sense of who I am while also getting a sense of who they are as well.
Strategy #2: See, Do, Get
This particular strategy, or way of accomplishing a goal, falls in line with Goal-Based Learning. When I am presenting a problem to teachers, I want them to figure out the problem using guidance from me and from exemplars and/or data. Then, I want to guide them into the "do" phase: what do we do about the problem we have established? This is where most of the conversations will occur and how I can really establish a rapport with teachers. I want them to understand that I am a cheerleader for them and I am here to guide them, not direct them or judge them. Working through the trenches with one another is a sure-fire way to build trust and to empower. Finally, we arrive at the "get" phase: what do we want to get out of the strategies we have created together, as a team? What is our goal? I truly believe working through each one of these steps will provide for unbelievable conversations and end results because it will ultimately create a community of trust, which will then trickle into the classrooms. Referring back to the book that basically changed my educator life, Kristin Merrill states,
"all students should be able to learn in an environment where they feel safe and loved" (2020, p. 4).
References
Brown, A. H., & Green, T. D. (2019). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental principles with process and practice (4th ed.). Routledge.
Merrill, J., & Merrill, K. (2020). The interactive class: Using technology to make learning more relevant and engaging in the elementary classroom. Elevate Books Edu.
3 comments
April,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved reading your blog. When I began to think about what topic to cover in my professional development, I immediately went to the teachers on my grade level. When they asked me to teach them about integrating technology into the classroom, I couldn’t help but think about your group’s presentation on The Interactive Classroom. Your group seemed to really gain some new knowledge.
I totally agree with you about those “meetings that could’ve been an email.” Like you said, it takes so much prep work on the teachers’ parts just to attend those meetings. If professional developments were more meaningful, engaging, and what I needed, that time spent preparing to go would be worth it. As Brown and Green (2020) state, instructional designers should incorporate activities that work based on the needs of the learners and the goals of the instructor. They continue to say that these activities help the learners “to gain new knowledge, skill, or insight” (p. 143). Wan (2020) states that teachers need to actively engage in learning so that student achievement and teacher effectiveness both improve. When creating a professional development for teachers, the instructional designer has many factors to consider. Malm (2020) believes that instructional designers must be aware of teaching methods, sharing of knowledge, and administrative responsibilities.
Thank you for sharing about Typeform. I’m going to have to try it. I have been thinking about embedding a survey in my professional development.
Dana
References
Brown, A. H., & Green, T. D. (2020). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental principles with process and practice (4th ed.). Routledge.
Malm, B. (2020). On the complexities of educating student teachers: Teacher educators’ views on contemporary challenges to their profession. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 46(3), 351-364.
Wan, S. W.-Y (2020). Unpacking the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of professional learning communities and differentiated instruction practice. ECNU Review of Education, 3(4), 694-714.
April,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post is great. I have The Interactive Class on my list of books to read. I hope to get as much out of it as you seem to have. The quote from the book about helping someone learn is very powerful when you really think about it. We get distracted so easily with the “grind” of teaching that we let that slip out of our minds.
I like how you talked about two different strategies. Building a sense of community is a good way to make your training more engaging. I had never heard of Typeform. It sounds like a great tool to have teachers and staff get to know each other quickly. I will be sure to remember that for myself. This also sounds like a tool that could provide feedback to you quickly so that you can adjust your methods if needed.
Brown and Green (2020) say, “An instructional designer’s job is to create something that enables a person or group of people to learn about a particular topic or develop or improve a set of skills, or to encourage the learner to conduct further study. (p. 7)” I think you will be able to accomplish this with your PD sessions. Your strategy of See, Do, Get will help your learners get comfortable with the material and should help them to seek out more information on the topic even after the training is over.
Brown, A., & Green, T. D. (2020). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental principles with process and practice. Routledge.
Barbara
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