We don’t like PD
That’s professional development. And “we” is teachers.
Tomorrow is election day, and students don’t come in. Teachers get professionally developed, instead.
Don’t get me wrong. Most of us like learning stuff. I have been to math conferences where I pick up a ton. AMTNYS and some of its local affiliates run great stuff. But tomorrow we get topped down. And most of us don’t like it.*
In fact, most teachers I know grumble that they would rather be in the classroom tomorrow. Teaching goes fast. Getting PDed is like watching paint dry.
So, do you like PD? or no? And if you don’t like it, and we had to be developed, what would you plan instead?
I kind of expect a choir of math voices saying we want to talk with our colleagues about lessons and curriculum, but I wonder…
* My friend got injured, can’t come in, and is happy for PD. If he has to miss a day, he’d rather miss a non-teaching day….
JD2718 
Root canal without anesthesia is better than staff development.
I did ask my AP for time to meet with colleagues. I didn’t get an answer. I’m betting no time will be allocated to that. In a school as big as mine I never see teachers that are teaching the same prep so there is no way to know what anyone else is doing.
AP teachers have to meet on Thrusday during our lunch. Too bad they couldn’t plan the time for Tuesday. (Or didn’t want to give us any kind of break?
What I don’t like are poorly planned PDs that are not relevant to me or my students or my colleagues…usually most PDs are like that unfortunately. I’ve heard of some excellent PD formats recently in the latest issue from, I think, NEA. PDs organized like mini-conferences, lead by fellow teachers, different rooms, different topics, and you choose which topic you are interested in attending, then switch in the afternoon. Wow. Just wow.
Poorly planned is an understatement. The AP’s don’t want to do it. The “newbies” get roped into doing it. Thirty year veteran’s do not want tob be told how to teach by someone barely out of diapers.
Things I’d rather do than have PD tomorrow:
1) get a root canal. It’s quick and painless, plus I’ve done it before
2) Lesson plan and talk to my colleagues
3) get my toe hammered on
4) catch carpal tunnel
5) have 3 straight periods, a lunch, and then 4 straight, and a full class for after-school
I said it. I’m dead serious.
Do I like PD? Sometimes. I don’t like when we have agenda given to us that doesn’t really apply.
I’d love meaningful PD time where we (the teachers) could talk about what was working well in our classes, and what wasn’t. Time where we could plan and compare lessons. Time where we could talk about specific students.
Does that usually happen? Nope.
Ok, I am curious about this, because I need to make these. But not the ones for the off school days. The PD we’re doing is in the evening now and then, and also we’re planning a week long mini course in the summer. The evening ones are teacher version of math circle, where we do math problems that lead us to learn something that we didn’t know before, hopefully. The summer one will have math in the morning, methods discussion in the afternoon, followed by teachers’ presentations, and lesson study. Is this the type that you’d rather replace with a root canal?
e, fortunately for you, you’re actually getting what I want from a PD. I want to be challenged, I want to grow as a professional, and I want to be actively involved in the thought process that makes me a better teacher, one way or another. However, I am not in favor of sitting through a PD that someone just thought up a few days ago because they thought it’d be cute and entertaining. I need substance. I’m also not in favor of having my time wasted with mind-numbing administrative stuff.
So the point is, if I’m not getting substance in my “professional development,” then I’d rather have the stuff on my list. I assume that jd’s also getting the same mundane PDs, too.
e, isn’t your stuff for credit? for new teachers? mandatory?
ours is just punishment.
I don’t mind staff development if I can learn something. I’ve gone to many from Texas Instruments and from College Board and other places in regards to my AP class. I’ve gone on weekends, summers and have paid for them myself. What I sat through today was torture.
Well, it is and it is not for credit. The teachers don’t get college credits (yet, we’d have to be lot more demanding on their time and work), but they do get recertification credits. I am never certain how attractive those are. And no, it’s not mandatory.