"I’m wondering from a teacher perspective with so many different models out there what type of professional development motivates them to keep the wheels turning. I would appreciate input from the field about what experiences have enriched and informed your teaching."

During the month of August I spent several hours on the phone with administrators on various rungs of the educational ladder designing professional development for their teachers around testing, reading and writing. In most cases the dialogue revolved around the materials they needed to purchase, how many days I would be in a particular building and which grade levels I would be working with. Unfortunately in most cases I don’t get to meet with teachers to assess their needs and wants, but in two of my schools there were common elements that speak to the type of professional development that I feel leads to success for both teachers and students. In both cases the principals shared their vision with me about what they saw the needs were in their buildings but both administrators also had me come in several days last year to brainstorm with teachers about what they saw the needs to be. In short, their teachers were part of the plan every step of the way. Both administrators felt Testing and Writing Fundamentals units of study would be great resources for teachers to work from, but they let teachers attend Schoolwide workshops to learn about the materials before purchasing them. They then allowed teams across grade levels to choose the units they wanted to work with. Another similarity between these two buildings was that I was asked to come in at the end of last and help the teachers review and revise their grade level curriculum calendars for both reading and writing. These calendars will create a consistent flow of instruction across and between grade levels and will help to lay the foundation for my work in those buildings this year
     In my former life I was a literacy specialist/staff developer in one building and since I was their full time I knew the teachers and the students intimately. It was easy to provide meaningful staff development because I dialoged with those teachers and worked in their classrooms all the time, but since I became a Schoolwide staff developer I’m not always as confident about whether or not districts administrators, principals and teachers are sharing in the professional development decisions.
     After reading Dr. Michael Shaw’s post about the upcoming Literacy Extravaganza it got me thinking about the many ways professional development can be approached. A day of workshops with fellow teachers, experts in the field and incredible keynote speakers is always engaging and motivating. These days usually get the wheels turning for teachers because they go back to their classes eager to try out what they have heard. I’m wondering from a teacher perspective with so many different models out there what type of professional development motivates them to keep the wheels turning. I would appreciate input from the field about what experiences have enriched and informed your teaching or if you had an experience that wasn’t as engaging and informative what do you feel were the inherent problems that needed correcting in order for the experience to be more rewarding.