Teachers love to learn.

 

Teachers love learning so much that they have dedicated their careers to guiding young people through the ups and downs of learning. And speaking as a history teacher, secondary teachers also love their content. They read, watch videos and take field trips outside of class because they simply want to know more about their discipline. Sadly, there is a disconnect between this love of learning and the professional learning that educators usually experience at school. Sit and Get trainings are completely ineffective, and teachers often show up with a fixed mindset because they have been through enough trainings to know that they will not have the time or support to truly implement these strategies. That changes now. 

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The educational world is starting to lose incredible teachers because our students are growing up in the 21st century dominated by technology, and yet most classrooms are still operating under the sit and get learning style of the 20th century.

 

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Teachers need new strategies in order to engage our students, but it is going to take much more than 8 hours sitting in a cafeteria with our peers. The Center for Public Education has created a report about effective professional development, and it has given me a real sense of urgency for changing how we plan and implement professional development (Gulamhussein, 2013). Teachers need to be equipped with strategies and techniques that meet our students where they are at, and the only way to effectively influence change in behavior is by prioritizing that professional learning by giving teachers the time and support to focus on it even in the middle of the teaching whirlwind.  

 

The presentation below details the findings about the traditional sit and get training and then describes the 5 key elements that must be present in effective professional development. I created my presentation with google slides and then used screen-cast-o-matic to record the audio. I usually overload my presentations with every detail and way too many words, but after watching 2 videos in particular, How Presentation Zen Fixed My Bad Powerpoints and How to avoid death By Powerpoint, I tried to create a presentation that will be used to support my presentation with visuals and distinct points instead of being the source of all information.