Why Professional Development? A Chance to Think

When I talk to other principals and district personnel, I frequently hear the same plans for professional development.  We are going to show teachers Strategy X.  We are going to take teachers through Y Planning Process.  We are going to review data and plan.

My question is always, "why are you doing that professional development?".  The most frequent answer that I hear is that we want to improve instruction.  I understand that we all want to improve instruction, but the approaches to professional development that we take tell teachers a lot about what we think of them and what we think of teaching.

I frequently hear the frustration expressed that students are not widgets.  Well, teachers are not widgets either.  Even though all of us are very excited by seeing high level implementation of certain classroom strategies or protocols or inspired by a research review that says that a school focused on just these strategies and demonstrated improvement, I think we often miss an important component - the teacher's thought process.

Great teachers do not just imitate or replicate strategies or lesson plans; they have a clear, deep articulation about WHY they are doing what they are doing.  You can learn how to fly a plane, but if you hit a storm or the plane breaks down, what's going to save the plane is your THINKING, not a rote procedure.  When the "bullet proof" strategy falls flat in the classroom, can the teacher spring into action or does he or she look like a deer in headlights?

If professional development does not help teachers develop their thinking around instruction or clarify their rationales for taking certain actions, it most likely is not bearing the desired fruit.  I love to see teachers come out of PD and say to me, "I need some time to get my head around this", or "I'm really going to have to think about this.  It's not what I usually do", or, even better, "When we were talking about/doing, I thought about my classroom and...".  Even better is when teachers can finally say after wrestling with something for 6 months, "I get it", AND you see it play out in their classroom with a twist.

I was attracted to teaching because of the complex problem solving - not the opportunity to follow a script. I believe most teachers are that way.  Professional development is a rote activity unless it helps teachers develop their practice AND their thinking.  Problem solving brings about great things - inquiry, collaboration, paradigm shifts, and innovation.  Great PD shouldn't just be judged on the Likert scale; it should be judged on Bloom's Taxonomy.