Alternate Professional Learning
How can we improve Professional Learning? One-size-fits-all approach to professional learning for educators is unlikely to meet the diverse needs and preferences of teachers, or to result in meaningful and lasting change in practice or in students' outcomes. According to the Center for Public Education (2013, p. 4), "most professional development today is ineffective. It neither changes teacher practice nor improves student learning." As the reading suggest, effective professional learning for educators should be personalized, ongoing, supportive, interactive, and relevant. Similar to students, teachers should have a voice and a choice in their own learning, and they should receive follow up, coaching, and feedback that is tailored to their specific goals and challenges. Here is Allison Gullamhussein's 5 Principles of Effective Professional Learning.
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Professional learning is more than a series of catchy titles and session descriptions. It requires a significant or ongoing duration, support for implementation, modeling, active engagement, and much more (Center for Public Education, 2013). Educators are no different than the students that they teach in their classroom every day. Our students do not remember the new content and knowledge that we teach them based on one lesson, the minimal times you mentioned the vocabulary in one lesson, and the worksheet that you and they complete during the one lesson. Students need ongoing support to master new content, they need re-teaching to master content, they need ongoing reminders and repetition to master content. Following these 5 Principles of Effective Professional Learning I believe teachers will have an effective way of implementing new skills and change their practice. My goal is to reach the hearts of teachers to implement Blended Learning to provide a significant learning environment by improving the effectiveness of teachers to create a culture of inquiry with improved professional learning. Below is the Why, How, & What to my mission along with my Call-to-Action video.
Reference
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf