via IFTTT
This weekend I took part in a lively COETAIL chat on disrupting Professional Development. Often PD is thought of as a weekly one-size fits no-one death by powerpoint ordeals known as ‘periodic detention.’
Yet when I think of PD I think of:
- Online conversations via Twitter, Facebook,
- Reading, writing and commenting on blogs
- Quick conversations in the hallway with colleagues
- Teach Meets and Eduignites
- Browsing YouTube and Pinterest
- Conferences and workshops
- Twitter tours and classroom observations
When I look down that list, I quickly realised that most of my activity doesn’t happen during ‘professional development time.’ It’s snatched in quick bursts of activity around my life. If I have a pressing professional learning need, I’m not going to wait for someone to schedule the relevant PD.
Instead, I’m going to jump on my iPhone.
As a teacher who graduated relatively recently, this is the only reality I’ve ever known.
To be clear, I have endured presenters who have read verbatim from poor-designed powerpoint slides. However, for me that isn’t PD – it’s bad PD. Instead of talking about the disrupting professional development, I’m wondering if we’ve made an assumption that PD fits that one mould when there are so many different ways for teachers to learn.
Let’s redefine the problem – ‘Life’s too short for bad PD.’
from Teaching the Teacher http://ift.tt/1RzsoSx
Teaching the Teacher 
Hey Steph
It’s always great to read your blog posts. I have just introduced ‘Tuesday Treats’ at my school. We choose an article and limit the group to 5 people where we discuss an article. I wondering about ‘slow think’ time and where in the world of Twitter, Blogs and Facebook do we take the time to really digest and discuss some of the ideas. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on whether you take time to dialogue about articles of interest.
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