Keeping learning alive for teachers
Professional Development days help teachers stay at the forefront of the latest teaching strategies
Balancing a hectic schedule and evaluating the unique needs of a number of students are a few of the challenges teachers face every time they walk in the classroom.
Many manage to pull it off with gusto, while others spend copious amounts of time after school working on their next day.
Luckily there is a teacher in place for those who always spend their time helping others.
Gregg Ingersoll is the Professional Development Supervisor for District 2.
He spends his time delivering the message to local schools to always strive for their best, and overlooks Professional Development days with a watchful eye and a hands on approach.
"The idea of these days is to be better at the job for students, and to keep a consistency across the district with teaching," says Gregg.
Although the district always held curriculum support days, they were focused solely on curriculum changes and support.
Without much teacher to teacher interaction, the days were lacking an internal support system for teachers within their own communities.
While still maintaining these support days, the district this year has come up with a concept to include four more days of learning for classroom teachers.
Professional Development days are now six in total, up from a mere two beforehand.
And while some may think it's just a day off for the kids, in the long run, it is a working effort to improve the way they learn.
Gregg is pleased with the addition of the four extra days for the district.
"It's a good thing for us," he says. "We've wanted to have more opportunities with our teachers for years. It's a welcome change."
For the last couple of years the district has been aiming towards a professional learning community, where teachers work together to solve issues going on within schools.
Spending a portion of the day in small groups with teachers from other schools and classrooms helps identify a peer level of support and encouragement.
"Teachers share their ideas, bringing a balance to the curriculum with a focus," explains Gregg. "This year's goal is to shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning.
"By learning, the most important qualifier is asking, are the students focused?"
Another goal Gregg identifies is "to have a collaborative culture where teachers are working together to achieve the fundamental purpose of learning on a higher level."
A third aspect of the PD days is a focus on results and always gathering data on how the students are doing.
The response to the small group focus on these days has had overwhelming support.
"We have never seen teachers this enthusiastic," states the Supervisor. "We recognize the issue of trying to balance everything as a teacher.
"Here they get to meet with other teachers and have an opportunity to discuss their approaches."
In the upcoming Professional Development sessions, the teachers will be assessing the difference between summative and formative learning to implement into the classroom.
The main goal is to look at a learning model previously based on general summative learning to embody a new formative assessment.
A main requirement of this learning process is to offer descriptive feedback, not just letter grades. The biggest shift in the new goal setting is a focus towards student involvement.
"Student self- assessment is part of this learning process," Gregg insists. "By setting defined targets students can follow, this will empower them and help their motivation.
"With self-assessment you learn to goal set and take part in your own learning."
"For many teachers it is a validation that they are doing the right thing," he says. "For others they say 'I have go to go back and try this differently.'"
The last Professional Development day of the school year will lay the path for next year, setting in motion a new way of learning.
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