What is Professional Learning
For the longest, I thought Profesional Learning(PL) and Professional development (PD) were the same, turns out they are not. Professional development is more lectures, seminars, or workshops that are meant to help educators continue to grow in their careers. Although professional learning also consists of those, it also requires more engagement with each other and modeling (WGU 2019). During PL teachers mainly group with their department whether it's by grade and content or just content. PL allows teachers to bounce ideas and strategies off of one another by engaging and then demonstrating with one another. Although PL might feel weird at first, it helps you and your students out in the long run. Modeling new strategies with your department group, gives teachers opportunities for feedback and feedforward. Demonstrating what worked and what didn’t, talking, and expressing those practices get you more comfortable when you have to model for your students.
Below are some resources that can help with PL, and help come up with my PL strategies.
Why BHAG?
BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – Overarching Project Goal
A Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is one that determines greatness. It is a big outrages goal that you and your team will stretch beyond the obvious (Rhythm System 2022). There are three main steps to creating a BHAG. Step 1: Know Thyself, step 2: Set the Right Mark, step 3: Grow With Purpose
My BHAG is to have Teachers collaborate on building ePortfolios and use them for discussions throughout the school year. Also, to have SpEd and Gen Ed students collaborate with eachother on building ePortfolios to use for discussions throughout the school year.
WHO:
Special Education & General Education Teachers
HOW
Karin Stateler. Concepts in the image are from Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability (Gulamhussein, 2013).
5 Key Principals & How to Incorporate in my PL
Duration: Durations of PL should be significant and ongoing to allow teachers enough time to learn new strategies and make a plan.
PL will take place once a month six hours a day. A span of 8 months (1 school year) for a total of 48 hours. During PL teachers will be demonstrating, modeling, and collaborating on strategies for their students within their department group.
Support: There must be support for each teacher during implementation to discuss challenges and changing classroom practices
I will offer as much support as possible during all PL days. I will have 15-minute sessions with each teacher department group to discuss feedforward and give feedback on their implementations
Active Participation: All teachers in each group should be actively engaging in implementing and modeling their plan to make sense of the new practice
As I am making my 15-minute rounds to each group, I will make sure each teacher gets a chance to engage in their new practice so they can feel comfortable. Teachers will be creating and working on ePortfolios also during PL.
Modeling: Modeling and demonstrating the new practice helps them get a sense of it and to practice what it will look and feel like.
During all PL sessions, I will share my ePortfolios with teachers. I will have teachers share and discuss their ePortfolios w/ each other within their department group. Also, during PL teachers will model any new practices they have discussed. As teachers have students work on their ePortfolios, once a week they will share discussion posts on what works and what doesn’t.
Specific Content: content should not be generic, but instead specific to the grade level and discipline.
Each department group will also be separated by grade level. As I am going around during my 15-minute walk-throughs, teachers will get to share with me their ideas and strategies.
References
Gulamhussein, A. (2020, January 1). Teaching The Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. http://conference.ohioschoolboards.org/2017/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2016/07/1pm111317A114Job-embedPD.pdf.
Karin Stateler. Concepts in the image are from Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability (Gulamhussein, 2013).
Rhythm Systems. (2022). Complete Guide to Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG). Rhythm Systems. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.rhythmsystems.com/bhag-big-hairy-audacious-goal
Western Governors University. (2019, August 2). Professional Development vs Professional Learning. Western Governors University. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/professional-development-vs-professional-learning-teachers1712.html#openSubscriberModal