Professional development can make or break your teachers’ motivation and engagement in the goals you’ve set for the current school year. It should be something your teachers look forward to, but oftentimes such opportunities miss the mark. Here are some tips from a leader who prioritizes meaningful PD in her building.
In a northern suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Principal spearheads numerous initiatives for her 2,000 students and nearly 140 staff at Olentangy Orange High School. Successful PD programming is one area that tops her list.
Ashers says that empowering and promoting teachers’ voices and ownership are the key components of a meaningful PD program.
“I’ve never met a teacher who did not want to learn, or I’ve never met a teacher who did not want to do their best,” says Asher. “I have met teachers who are frustrated, disengaged and disenfranchised with the system, and I think a lot of teachers have historically felt like things are being done to them and their voices aren’t valued.”
If the latter scenario resonates with your staff, Asher recommends that you seek their knowledge and expertise to better understand what they want. All it takes is asking them what their needs are.
“When [teachers] feel like they own it, they’re far more engaged and it’s far more meaningful,” says Asher.
The approach
Let’s go behind the scenes of Olentangy Orange High School’s PD program. Every one of Asher’s departments has its own academic goal. Continuous improvement goals are built from the bottom up, not the top down.
“We differentiate our PD to meet every one of their needs,” says Asher. “We ask teachers to do the same thing for kids, so the idea that we would not do that as administrators is insane.”
The teachers decide how they want to spend their time and the administrators work to fill the gaps and find resources and presenters to meet these goals.
Wwith our rapidly growing English-learner population, there is a need and interest across the building on how to better support those learners, says Asher. That has been a large focus, and we dont just wait for the three PD days to do these things. All of our departments have collaboration time built into their schedules.
Teachers within each department share the same time off to collaborate and learn. This is also when various resources and experts are brought in to work with her staff. Last year, for instance, the district hired a new director of English language learner services who provided teachers PD, during collaboration time, on how to better support these students.
Advice for meaningful professional development
PD should be something teachers look forward to, not a chore. Ashers advice for other leaders is to trust the professionalism of their staff and to ask and listen.
Staff will tell you exactly what they need, and if you are active and out in classrooms as you should be as a leader, tapping into the expertise of people you have on staff is really important, she says. Each time Ive asked a teacher who does something really well, Can you present to staff? they feel a sense of pride and theyre excited to showcase their work.
Oftentimes, we think meaningful professional development comes from somebody who lives at least two hours away. The best PD can often be found inside the building.
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