Teachers are gearing up to head back to their classrooms to get them ready to go for their students -- quick side note -- they do this on their own time; they don't get paid for this! (If you do, bravo!!!)But part of this getting ready to go back to school routine also includes required trainings for things like blood-borne pathogens, basic first aid, and the super fun topics like ethics and sexual harassment. Raise your hand if the 3 letters of the alphabet you hate most are G, C, and N! Also part of the routine, it seems, is expressing dissatisfaction over having to do these really boring required trainings and then having all sorts of first day professional development heaped on top of everything! Spend any time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok spaces where teachers are and you will find a plethora of posts, comments, memes, and videos all about the horrors of crap teacher PD -- everything from funny posts to ludicrous to angry and just downright pissed off for being forced to do something that is irrelevant.
Teachers know they have to do professional development. It's necessary. But it doesn't have to be a necessary EVIL. So I am challenging administrators out there to to read this post with an open mind and an open heart. I know it is too late for your first day of school to change anything, but maybe, if you read this and take it to heart, you can change things during this year and do something different for next year and all the years to come!
So, why do teachers react so violently to professional development? Here is what I think are the top issues, in no particular order:
- Relevancy -- whatever is being shared isn't relevant to the teachers and what they're doing in their classrooms with their students.
- Connection -- the presenter is a paid presenter with either limited classroom experience, or hasn't been in a classroom in a while, or actually has zero classroom experience.
- Adults vs Kids -- teachers are treated like kids as opposed to professional adults. What works for kids in the classroom -- assigned seats, random partnering or grouping, hype up activities, getting up and moving activities -- are so demotivating for teachers. Seeing chart paper, stickers, and markers will immediately turn a teacher off to whatever it is that's about to happen.
- Processing -- when teachers are forced to process what they're learning with people they don't know or who are outside their comfort zone or who simply don't teach the same subject area/grade level, they actually process NOTHING. They shut down, say the bare minimum, just to get through it. Likewise, if they don't get time to process and apply what they learned later in the day, week, month, and/or year, it's meaningless.
- Overload -- there is only so much time a teacher can spend listening to a presenter -- even a really good one. At some point, they will start to have their brains overtaken about all the things they need to finish up before the kids show up.
So, what can an administrator do? Here are my suggestions, and I know they might not be popular, but I'm confident this is what teachers would say to you if they felt they could (and I promise you, most of them don't feel like they can).
- Relevancy -- find out what teachers want to learn! Talk with them -- not just put out a survey. Meet with them and ask them. If they can't come up with anything, throw suggestions out to to them and get their feedback. What if you had a PD committee of teachers who helped develop PD in you district? If you have an initiative that you're working on that you simply must dictate the PD, then still go get feedback from teachers. "Hey, we're going to be 1:1 with Chromebooks in the classroom this year. What do teachers want help with? Who do you want to hear from? What kinds of resources do you want?" Please, I am begging you, give teachers a VOICE! And when you can, please give them OPTIONS! Set up mini sessions and let teachers choose the sessions they want to attend. Run your opening day edcamp style -- start with a brainstorming session on what teachers want to talk about, then assign rooms and times to topics, and let teachers go where they want and talk and problem-solve together. And please, after ANY PD, get an evaluation from the teachers -- not just the state required stuff -- get internal feedback and then use it!!!! Keep what works, ditch what doesn't.
- Connection -- please do your best to find people who are still in a classroom because no one likes someone coming in telling them how to do their job when that person has no clue what the job actually entails. Tap into local talent -- ask your own teachers to present. Ask them who they know who could do a good job presenting. AND THEN COMPENSATE THEM, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!! If you're willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to bring in a presenter, then you can pay your teachers to run the PD. You could spend $2000 for a presenter who is going to be demotivating to teachers who will give you BS feedback on the state evaluation (waste of money) or tap into the experts you currently have in house (great investment of money, and no one's time is wasted).
- Adults vs Kids -- please don't have teachers do ice breakers, hype up activities, stand up and move around, 3 truths and a lie, anything with stickers or markers, give assigned seats, make random pairs or groups, dance, shout, cheer, role play, or use terms like "elbow partner" or "think-pair-share" or any other little phrase we use with kids. Also don't use things like flashing lights, using a song, or saying things like, "1-2-3, eyes on me" to teachers. They're not kids. They're licensed professionals and adults. Let teachers learn by getting information to them in engaging ways without gimmicks, and let them talk with the peers they're most comfortable with about what they're learning. Will they get off topic sometimes? Sure. Will they get loud? Likely. But it's okay. They WILL talk about what they're supposed to if they're being respected as adults.
- Processing -- allow plenty of time for teachers to talk and brainstorm and question with people they're comfortable talking and brainstorming with, and people they're comfortable asking questions to. Give teachers random people to talk with, and they'll clam up and just be resentful that they can't get any meaning from what they're learning because they're not in a safe setting to learn and maybe be vulnerable. Circle back to PD topics throughout the year. Nothing feels worse than having something dumped in your lap at the start of the school year and knowing damn well it will never be spoken of again. If it's important enough to spend money on training teachers, then it should be important enough to be addressed throughout the year.
- Overload -- please don't cram every minute of a teacher's day with PD. First, no matter how great it is, teacher brains are like all human brains -- there comes a point where they're saturated. Give plenty of processing and debriefing opportunities. Give teachers the chance to be social for a bit. And please, please, please, give them a MEANINGFUL AMOUNT OF TIME TO WORK IN THEIR CLASSROOMS! Yes, PD and meetings are going to have to happen. But do your level best to keep those things efficient so teachers can go do the hands on things they need to do. It's not dedication that teachers will stay at work until 4, 5 or 6 o'clock on those first days; it's what they have to do to be ready because they didn't have enough time provided to them. Ideally, you have more than one day to start the year officially before the kids come because then you could allow at least one full day of time for teachers to work in their classrooms.
Now a couple of caveats: first, I am sure there are some teachers who will disagree with some of the things I wrote here. Some teachers enjoy being put in groups so they don't have to try to do it on their own or because they love the chance to meet new people. Some teachers really like being able to get up and move. Some teachers really appreciate the modeling of strategies. Overall, teachers just don't want their time wasted, and they want what they're learning to be valuable. Operate from those two principles and some other stuff, like using sticker dots, will be palatable. Second, I know there are some teachers who simply won't respond well no matter what PD looks like. You'll have teachers who are negative and complain no matter what, or who are off task or water their own time. Teachers aren't perfect -- they're people. If you've got teachers who are like this, deal with them individually and privately. It's ridiculous to say, "I'm not giving teachers the day to work in their classrooms because Teacher X and Teacher Y never do any work -- they just goof around. Instead, I'm going to fill their day." This kind of thinking will make teachers resent you, and they resent the teachers who "caused" you to do this. It's a lousy way to build a team.
If you can't bring yourself to do all of these things, then pick what you CAN do and start with that. You can be a leader that teachers follow begrudgingly because you've got the title and they want to stay on your good side, or you can be a leader that teachers follow because they know you value them and their expertise and their time and their experience.
Signed, a retired teacher who was also a presenter who tried her level best to do all of the things mentioned in this post because she loved good professional development and wanted other teachers to love it, too.
