I recently took part in an online discussion with a group of Jewish educators where we discussed the issue of PD. At the conclusion, I made the following summary which you might find useful. The list is in no particular order and some of the items may be similar.
I would encourage you to share these thoughts with those that organize PD days at your own school.
Tzvi Daum
[
torahskills.org]
http:twitter/torahskills
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Problems Mentioned:
PD sessions are often not relevant or practical.
Presenters are often out of touch with what real teachers go through in real classrooms.
Presenters do not check for understanding on the part of the participants.
PDs are typically presentations not training sessions. You are exposed to a concept but cannot implement it afterwards.
Administration does not provide follow up sessions or see that the entire school is on the same page if need be.
School budgets often dont allow for further sessions or follow up. What can be done?
Teachers often have poor attitudes and are resistant to change how do we change this?
Possible Solutions:
Presenter should leave contact information and invite participants to contact them if they are agreeable to doing so.
Presenters be trained in the art of presenting or at the very least read some such material.
Perhaps we need to realign our understanding of what PD is meant to accomplish. Is it really training or just meant to give a taste" of the system?
Recognize that in large groups or where the whole school needs to adopt a system there will be a need for further training and follow up.
If the topic is specific or usable by one person then perhaps one session is enough otherwise more follow up sessions might be needed.
Workshops should be relevant and enable teachers to walk out with practical new ideas and methodologies to experiment with.
Schools should give teachers time to collaborate and discuss the implementation of new ideas either on a weekly or monthly basis.
Longer sessions of about two hours enables the presenter to better explain and develop the concept as opposed to one hour sessions.
Ask the teachers what they would like to hear about invite the customer!
Schools might send a few teachers to workshops and then have them present the workshop to the faculty that did not attend. This encourages sharing- and avoids much wasted time.
Most important, there is a need to take this discussion further!
