Professional Development

This upcoming week provides for us, some professional development. Hopefully, those in charge have been planning this out, and have some thought out plans of action for their staff so that we can improve our craft, as it is of the utmost of importance. Many though, despite tha fact that our young schlars need the finest of instruction, will only have considered what they will present their staff on last week, and then scramble to get others involved. It is no surpirise, that many teachers have a negative approach to professional development here in Bermuda. When those putting it on take it seriously, it will trickle down and we as teachers will step up to the challenge. However, and hopefullly this is not the case, some may have found out on Friday that they have to present or be a facilitator for Monday. Are we takinhg this seriously? Do we realize that it is our job to improve our craft?

A recent U.S. study found that:
The time U.S. teachers actually spend in professional training largely continues to take place in isolation, rather than in school-based settings that draw on teachers’ collective knowledge and skills, the report says.
Despite some recent improvements in professional-training opportunities, “we’re way behind other countries that are high-achieving in terms of the time and intensive opportunity for deep learning they provide,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor who co-wrote the report with four colleagues at that university’s School Redesign Network. “We still see teachers engage in really short one- and two-day workshops rather than ongoing, sustained support that we now have evidence changes practices and increases student achievement.

It found that there needs to be ongoing development. First of all, we need to take it seriously, not approach it like, "oh yeah, I have to throw something together for next week." Then we need to consider what we need to work on, and then come up with a systematic approach to helping our staff members improve their craft. Click here to read the rest of the article.