Day 2 ended just like it had begun – another practical session filled with easy to apply knowledge that I know I will definitely be able to use on my return back to my school. Baldev and Sonja posed the question “What are the key ingredients to a good professional development session”. You can see our responses on our ‘corkboard’ http://bit.ly/nVVViI. Despite being at times worlds apart common trends were evident among the 50 Innovative Teachers. A professional development session must be practical, relevant and engaging. It should spark enthusiasm and at the end of the session a ‘product’ must be made. It is vital that the leader knows their topic, is adaptable and can read their audience.
We also spent some time discussing the challenges of delivering a PD session – our responses were also collaborated on a ‘corkboard’. http://corkboard.me/AoS2ec3FHG and the common message among the participants of the Institute was that participants of professional development sessions wanted to believe that “what you are telling them is worth their time”!! Combined with a lack of resources, differing expectations and school based restrictions it is no wonder that delivering professional development sessions is often seen as difficult and impossible to administer!
For me this was a great session and has given me an awesome set of guidelines for delivering sessions to staff. I know that I am one of the lucky ones with a solid professional development program and unlimited resources – but I do struggle at times to maintain teacher engagement and teacher expectations are always high! I now feel that I have a set of tools that will help me educate others so that they can also adapt their teaching and learning to be more in line with 21st Century Learners.
We also spent some time discussing the challenges of delivering a PD session – our responses were also collaborated on a ‘corkboard’. http://corkboard.me/AoS2ec3FHG and the common message among the participants of the Institute was that participants of professional development sessions wanted to believe that “what you are telling them is worth their time”!! Combined with a lack of resources, differing expectations and school based restrictions it is no wonder that delivering professional development sessions is often seen as difficult and impossible to administer!
For me this was a great session and has given me an awesome set of guidelines for delivering sessions to staff. I know that I am one of the lucky ones with a solid professional development program and unlimited resources – but I do struggle at times to maintain teacher engagement and teacher expectations are always high! I now feel that I have a set of tools that will help me educate others so that they can also adapt their teaching and learning to be more in line with 21st Century Learners.