Professional Development: Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness

"To be effective, professional development must provide teachers with a way to directly apply what they learn to their teaching. Research shows that professional development leads to better instruction and improved student learning when it connects to the curriculum materials that teachers use, the district and state academic standards that guide their work, and the assessment and accountability measures that evaluate their success."  from "Teaching Teachers: Professional Development To Improve Student Achievement" Retrieved July 14, 2011, from http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Research_Points/RPSummer05.pdf

In order for teachers to truly benefit from professional development, presenters need to make their content relevant to teachers. Presenters need to provide numerous examples of how teachers can integrate techniques, technologies, and tools into their classrooms.

Teachers get easily overwhelmed by professional development. It's not surprising really--we are expected to do so much more than we are given time to complete. The paperwork seems to be ever-increasing, and professional development often seems like "one more meeting." Teachers are disheartened and disillusioned, and as a result, they are often disengaged during professional development presentations.

Teachers are always being trained on new strategies, and almost everything is advertised as a "silver bullet" that will solve all the teacher's problems. However, teachers rarely implement these strategies because they don't know how to make it work in their own classroom.

So how can a presenter make professional development seem more relevant and user friendly to teachers? Here are a few ideas:

1. Give the teachers a handout (paper or digital) which they can reference later. Provide them with contact information so they can contact you later if they have questions.

2. Ask teachers how they can incorporate the strategy in their classrooms. Give examples of how you have used the strategy or how you have seen it used.

3. Explain the research base behind the strategy you are teaching; this makes you more credible and makes your material seem more important.

4. Less is more. Don't overwhelm teachers.

Professional development should be something teachers look forward to and enjoy. Would you want to attend your own presentation? If not, you better do something to make it more engaging and relevant!