a Final Compilation
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”—Benjamin Franklin
What Professional Learning Should Be
After spending more than twenty years in education, I have experienced many different types of professional learning. Most Professional Development is a “sit and get” that they can not used later in the classroom. When I began my journey in the ADL program, I designed my Innovation plan using the social studies curriculum in elementary. As my plan evolved, I changed it to a math curriculum because my district is implementing blended learning into the math Kindergarten, first, and second grade curriculum this year. Reflecting on my own experiences with Professional Learning helped me develop an Alternative Model of Professional Learning. This learning should be based on the following five principles (Gluamhussein, A., 2013):
- Professional development must be ongoing
- Must have support for the teacher
- Initial exposure for the teacher must not be passive–the teacher must be engaged in active participation
- New practices must be modeled for the teacher
- The content must be relevant to the teacher’s content or grade level.
Planning the Professional Learning
Just as teachers need a lesson plan to begin teaching their students, it is equally important to know where to begin when leading Professional Learning. Teachers should be given a clear outline with expectations in order for the learning to be effective. As I created a Professional Learning Plan for my innovative Proposal, I had to keep in mind that teachers do not need or want another “sit and get” professional development. Schools need to do better. Having a goal for each professional learning session is important. I created a BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal) along with a 3-column table to help teachers stay focused on what learning will be taking place by stating the outcomes, the learning activities, and assessment activities.
I also created an outline with clickable links so that teachers would have access to the resources being used within the professional development session. The outline also contains a timeline to help keep teachers focused and on track. The outline states who will present the sessions, a list of activities, evidence of the learning, as well as clickable links for teacher to download and access the resources.
Collaboration
Within the modules, teachers will be given the opportunity to create lesson plans, stations, and rubrics that they can use in their classroom. Teachers will have the opportunity to complete a feedback form at the close of the professional learning, however, collaboration between the teachers will be ongoing throughout the school year.
Leading the PD
When creating this professional learning plan, I wanted the campus administrators to show involvement. I also included the instructional math specialists from the campus and the district to facilitate the learning. On the modules for the Growth Mindset, I utilized veteran teachers to share their experiences in the classroom so that teachers can feel a connection by having other teachers to mentor them through adopting a growth mindset.
Gathering Evidence
To evaluate my course, I will gather evidence from teachers by asking them to fill out a Google form for feedback. I would not ask for names or email addresses as I feel teachers are more likely to give their honest opinions when they are able to reply anonymously. After I receive feedback, I will use this to change or revise my professional learning plan so that it is relevant to the needs of the teachers. View a copy of my Google Evaluations Form.
Why Creating Change is Important
When teachers receive well-designed professional development, an average of 49 hours spread over six to 12 months, they can increase student achievement by as much as 21 percent (Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss, and Shapley, 2007). In much the same way it takes multiple exposure for our students to master a new skill or concept, it takes teachers, on average, twenty instances of practice to master a new teaching concept (Joyce & Showers, 2022), while other studies have shown it to be closer to 50 hours (French, 1997). We can no longer sit back and ignore the facts. Schools need to do something different. There needs to be a change. Creating an alternative, effective model of professional development is based on five principals (Gluamhussein, A. (2013).
Resources
The resources needed for this professional development are iPads, laptops, computers, TEKS (state standards and objectives) for each grade level, a campus copy of Carol Dweck’s, Mindset. Most, if not all, of the resources necessary can be obtained online. Active links are provided for the facilitators and teachers to easily access the materials.
In Conclusion
References
Desimone, L. M., Porter, A. C., Garet, M. S., Yoon, K. S., & Birman, B. F. (2002). Effects of Professional Development on Teachers’ Instruction: Results from a Three-Year Longitudinal Study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(2), 81–112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3594138
Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House.
Edutopia. (2017, April 6). Teacher Labs: Making Professional Development Collaborative. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf5KcyHGhRA
Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. John Wiley & Sons.
French, V. W. (1997). Teachers must be learners, too: Professional
development and national teaching standards. NASSP
Bulletin, 81, 38–44.
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. Center for PUblic Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf(https://www.dropbox.com/sj13c5mk092kmq9/Teaching_Effective_Professional_Development.pdf?d!=0)
Joyce, B & Shower, B (1982) The Coaching of Teaching. Educational Leadership, 40 (1), 4-10.
Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee, S. W.-Y., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K. (2007). Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement (Issues & Answers Report, REL 2007–No. 033). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs
Blended Elementary 
