Professional Development
Professional development generally refers to ongoing learning opportunities available to teachers and other education personnel through their schools and districts. Effective professional development is often seen as vital to school success and teacher satisfaction, but it has also been criticized for its cost, often vaguely determined goals, and for the lack of data on resulting teacher and school improvement that characterizes many efforts.
With schools today facing an array of complex challenges—from working with an increasingly diverse population of students, to integrating new technology in the classroom, to meeting rigorous academic standards and goals—observers continue to stress the need for teachers to be able to enhance and build on their instructional knowledge. (Education Week, 2011)
You can seek out your own professional development through seeking out for programs to enhance your own learning and growth. Included in this site has been some of my own growth in learning through Project Based Learning. The No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 defined professional development as activities that are not one-day or short-term workshops or conferences. Continually seeking out more education on a topic under this definition could be considered professional development.
Some ways that I have chosen to search for information for this site are using google.com, ask.com, webcrawler.com, and dogpile.com. Through my searching on these search engines I have found a great amount of information that has helped me in developing myself into a better teacher and helped me in finding information to share with you as the viewer.
One way the Education Week discusses how professional development can be strengthened is by including observing fellow teachers and working one-on-one with classroom-based “coaches,” or content experts. (Education Week, 2011) I find a great way to accomplish the collaboration or partnership in learning can be done through collaboration websites; two I found interesting were Project2Manage and Writeboard.
The NETS talk about many different standards that are important in teaching our students while using technology, one of the standards mentioned is to model for your students. A great way to model to your students is by creating a digital portfolio of your growth as a teacher much like I have done here to show your students that you are learning along side them. Digital portfolios are a great tool to use in your classroom to see students growth over time and letting them know you have one of your own can help inspire them while modeling at the same time. The more your can model for your students they more they will know what you expect from them and they will have a reason to excel.
I feel that professional development is best done through workshops and conferences taught by professionals but know it can also be done by an individual seeking out their own education like I have done in developing this site. Professional development must inculcate in teachers new knowledge and skills such that they change their behavior, and those changes must subsequently result in improved student mastery of subject matter. (Education Week, 2011) As an educator your must be continuously learning and growing so that your students can continue to learn and grow from you.
With schools today facing an array of complex challenges—from working with an increasingly diverse population of students, to integrating new technology in the classroom, to meeting rigorous academic standards and goals—observers continue to stress the need for teachers to be able to enhance and build on their instructional knowledge. (Education Week, 2011)
You can seek out your own professional development through seeking out for programs to enhance your own learning and growth. Included in this site has been some of my own growth in learning through Project Based Learning. The No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 defined professional development as activities that are not one-day or short-term workshops or conferences. Continually seeking out more education on a topic under this definition could be considered professional development.
Some ways that I have chosen to search for information for this site are using google.com, ask.com, webcrawler.com, and dogpile.com. Through my searching on these search engines I have found a great amount of information that has helped me in developing myself into a better teacher and helped me in finding information to share with you as the viewer.
One way the Education Week discusses how professional development can be strengthened is by including observing fellow teachers and working one-on-one with classroom-based “coaches,” or content experts. (Education Week, 2011) I find a great way to accomplish the collaboration or partnership in learning can be done through collaboration websites; two I found interesting were Project2Manage and Writeboard.
The NETS talk about many different standards that are important in teaching our students while using technology, one of the standards mentioned is to model for your students. A great way to model to your students is by creating a digital portfolio of your growth as a teacher much like I have done here to show your students that you are learning along side them. Digital portfolios are a great tool to use in your classroom to see students growth over time and letting them know you have one of your own can help inspire them while modeling at the same time. The more your can model for your students they more they will know what you expect from them and they will have a reason to excel.
I feel that professional development is best done through workshops and conferences taught by professionals but know it can also be done by an individual seeking out their own education like I have done in developing this site. Professional development must inculcate in teachers new knowledge and skills such that they change their behavior, and those changes must subsequently result in improved student mastery of subject matter. (Education Week, 2011) As an educator your must be continuously learning and growing so that your students can continue to learn and grow from you.
Resources
Education Week. (2011). Professional development. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/professional-development/