As stated by Donald Graves, “The teacher is the chief learner in the classroom.” Teaching is complex.  In addition to being masters in our content areas, teachers are asked daily to perform roles similar to that of counselor, nurse, and parent. One teacher cannot be expected to know everything. However, if there is one area in which teachers should be experts, it is learning. The best way to show students how to learn is to share our own passions and our own quests for knowledge. When we model our curiosities and the way we find answers, we show students how to love learning.

 

Guskey (2010) once said that “One constant finding in the research literature is that notable improvements in education almost never take place in the absence of professional development”. Professional development is one key to meeting today’s educational demands and changes.

 

Below are some of the areas emerged on how teachers could develop and improve themselves professionally as enumerated by Johnson (2009):

 

Experts. There is a lot to be learnt through taking advantage of all the experienced and expert practitioners in the field of education, by attending sessions they may give at conferences or, if teachers are lucky, talks that are available in their vicinity. Reading readily-available articles and books written by ‘experts’ and participating in online events or blogs with invited professionals is an alternative if ‘experts’ are not available in the flesh somewhere near you.

Talking informally. Joining other teachers in the staffroom discussing their next lesson or the materials they are using is one of the easiest and most effective ways of developing, especially if you borrow the ideas and try them out in your own classes.

Individual reading. Another easy way to learn that can include internet materials and journals as well as actual books, which can be expensive and difficult to obtain in some parts of the world. We can read anywhere in any short piece of snatched free time.

Programmed action research. You may be lucky enough to have a head of department or principal who wants research results which shed light on what is going on in his or her institution, and is prepared to provide time for teachers to provide the evidence. This is one interpretation of programmed action research, though there are lots of others, and teachers cannot help but learn from the experience and the results.

Giving sessions. This can range from a small in-school meeting where teaching ideas are shared right through to a session at a large international conference. All conference speakers started small and all teachers have something to say. This is a particularly effective way to develop due to the planning and research which takes place before the session as well as the discussion and feedback which it provokes.

Writing. Similar to the above, writing ranges from short articles right through to books. Keeping a diary and reflecting on your teaching is a good way to start and there are plenty of models out there to learn from, while the preparation and research necessary teaches you as much as the writing and rewriting itself.

Doing a formal course. This is often the first thing people think of when they think about professional development. But it is often the most prohibitive due to time and expense, and often courses do not provide exactly what is needed. If you are lucky enough to be able to follow a course, however, make the most of the time you have laid aside for thinking and learning, because doing a course is a great way to develop.

Membership of professional bodies. This can provide opportunities and facilitation of many of the areas above, and although subscriptions can appear expensive, there is often so much offered by a professional body that it justifies the expense. Prepare to be active though, as so often you will get more out of it the more you put in yourself.

 

Some of us teachers are somewhere in the middle, thinking on how to further develop professionally and while we are mindful of maintaining a healthy work-life balance, we are prepared to find the time we need within our working lives to continuously learn, develop and thereby enhance our practice.

 

 

References:

Guskey, T. Evaluating Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 2000.

 

Johnson, Jenny. Ways to Continuing Professional Development. 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Alma M. Carreon | Teacher I | Bagumbayan Elementary School | Pilar, Bataan