As a school leader, preparing for professional development for your staff comes down to understanding and incorporating three elements that will ensure the success of the time and effort of professional development: How does this benefit my situation and my students? What topics or areas of need are present in my school at the system, classroom, and individual level? and How can I maximize the intended outcomes of the professional development?
How does this benefit my situation and my students?
The biggest question, and often the strongest push-back that a principal gets from their teaching staff when they are asked to participate in professional development is "how does this benefit my situation and my students?" Teachers have a litany of items on their to-do lists. They have known, and unknown, challenges that they face in their classrooms every day, and they have a scarce amount of time to put toward solving all of the obstacles they must scale before teaching of content even begins. So, it is helpful if the principal, or whomever is designing the professional development, keeps this question in mind as they design the professional development work.
What topics or areas of need do I see in my school?
One of the drawbacks of professional development is the one-size-fits-all approach. While whole-group meetings on larger topics are beneficial in some cases, they are often somewhat hit or miss in whether they reach the true needs of your students and staff. It is important to look at the micro-communities in your school and see how you can maximize professional development issues within those communities. For example, when concerned about how to best reach older students still struggling to master the basic tenants of reading, some teachers may need some professional development on reading strategies for older, non-readers. Keep in mind, however, that this might not always mean they they need to be trained in the latest, greatest reading intervention program. Teachers are intelligent professionals, sometimes opportunities to engage in meaningful discourse with like-minded individuals faced with the same challenge is enough to spark the creativity needed to revamp reading instruction in the classroom.
How can I maximize the intended outcomes of the professional development?
When time, effort, and resources are invested in professional development you want to ensure to the best of your ability that you will see maximum output on the goals and objectives you have set. One of the primary drawback of most professional development is lack of engagement; Namely, lack of genuine connection to each other and the topic. It is vitally important that engagement be at the top of the list when planning, designing, and delivering professional development.
An overlooked professional development activity
One of the most overlooked professional development activities available to us as school leaders is book study. Book study, when implemented with intention, is an excellent way to tackle all of the usual challenges of professional development. A well planned book study helps address the issues of time, topic, and maximized outcomes.
As a school principal, you should be doing more book study with your teachers. A carefully selected book literally gets teachers on the same page with issues and ideas that they may be facing. Well facilitated content discourse is a higher level of engagement that is hard to get with typical sit-and get professional development practices. Book study professional development can be adapted to meet the needs of a variety of PLC types, allows teacher choice, enables genuine connection between professionals seeking common goals, fills gaps in trouble spots in your school, opens doors for natural teacher leadership opportunities, and gives you an opportunity to connect to the hearts and minds of the teachers in your school.
Professional development and skill development are not synonymous - but they are often treated as such. One of the biggest issues with mandated professional development is figuring out a narrow enough topic to cover a broad area of needs in our building. When assuming that teachers constantly need "skill development" we assume that they do not have what it takes to meet the needs of our students. On the other hand, when we offer opportunity to grow in heart and mind, we can empower the people at the helm of our classrooms. I encourage you to give a book study a try this school year. You may find that you can uncover a treasure trove of powerful thoughts and ideas from your staff that will spark change, and ignite achievement in your school.
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