Disrupting Professional Development: The Case for Time
(Part 1 in a 5-Part Professional Development Series)
In the life of an educator, there is a precious commodity of which many claim not to have enough. That commodity is time. Although an average school day in the United States is 6.7 hours, an average teacher works approximately 50 hours per week. That is about three hours per day dedicated to preparing lesson plans and materials, correcting papers, reading essays, inputting grades, and the list goes on. These duties may be completed at school, at home, at night, or on the weekend, as this is a necessity and expectation of the job. What does an educator do with downtime? More than likely, he or she is thinking about the next thing that needs to be done on the to-do list that never seems to end. Is it any wonder why an educator may feel that they do not have the time for professional development?
Over the years, the delivery of professional development to educators has been fairly consistent. Content is delivered in a marathon session of a six-hour conference or workshop. This is a great format when the goal is to learn concepts and competencies. It is a necessary expectation that educators are experts in their professional field and continue gaining knowledge throughout their careers. It has been the reality of educators to continue their professional growth through this same type of workshop format: Learn everything about a current initiative, gain the knowledge, and apply it within instructional delivery. This sounds simple on the surface, but underneath that surface, it is a little more complex.
When most educators think of professional development, they may think about growth for themselves and for students. Professional development gives educators the tools to help students achieve. It is a way to provide new thoughts and new ideas for instructional delivery. The reality, however, is that professional development can fall short of these goals. I base this statement on my experience as a participant in and leader of educators in implementing educational initiatives through professional development sessions. Throughout the years, I have had many teachers and administrators share their thoughts regarding their professional development experience after a day or half-day workshop. I can sum up their thoughts in a few key statements.
Statement: “I don’t have time for this.”
Translation: As most of us know, there is so much that needs to be accomplished within a school year. Not only does a workshop interfere with delivering instruction, being away from the classroom involves the time needed for additional planning for a substitute teacher. There is also a possibility that there will be a need to reteach material to students and the need to deal with discipline issues upon return. Many times, it is more work to leave the classroom for a professional development day than to teach.
Statement: “After six hours, I have only one or two things that I can use in my classroom.”
Translation: After six hours of listening to a wealth of information on a particular topic, it is too overwhelming to implement all that has been learned. The participant did not have the time to process the information in order to glean and use more from the experience. The stress of the concentrated amount of time and lack of processing time has interfered with their ability to implement within his or her instructional delivery.
Statement: “I can’t add one more thing to my plate.”
Translation: With any educational initiative, there is work that needs to be done in order to implement efficiently and effectively. This work takes time. Most educators would support the time needed to comprehensively plan for the implementation of a new initiative. The issue comes when the individual to-do lists keep growing amidst all the other things that have to happen in a classroom. When information is presented all at once, it adds more stress and detracts from the ability to create, plan, implement, and monitor new initiatives.
The bottom line is that we need to look at other ways of delivering professional development that are more “time-friendly” for the educator. For far too long, we have been held in the confines of delivering professional development in one day. There is a case to disrupt professional development with a time frame of approximately 30 minutes or less. We can disrupt professional development with time, using it to our benefit as educators in three key ways.
- Focus the Topic
In order to learn, we have to be able to process information. If there is too much information, it becomes more difficult to sustain focused attention. If there is not enough sustained, focused attention, it becomes much more difficult to process information. See the cycle? It is best to focus the topic into “digestible bites,” allowing for people to focus on one thing at a time. It is possible to deliver content in a clear and concise manner. This allows people to remain focused and to truly develop a common understanding of presented material in order to use for job embedment.
- Identify the Intended Audience
Sometimes information can be presented in a general way that is applicable to all audiences, whether a teacher, an administrator, or a staff member. Other times, information needs to be presented in a more customized fashion to a particular group. Know your target audience and present to them in a way that will be helpful for their individual role. It is important to present in a way that tailors to the audience’s needs and specific job responsibilities.
- Develop Outcomes
The end goal of any professional development session is to deliver what was learned during the conference in order to improve student learning and achievement. This result is accomplished through one step, or topic, at a time. It is developed with the intended audience in mind. Each member of the team has a part to do in order to contribute to the process of implementing the educational initiative. Use the time frame wisely. Take the time to develop outcomes that are practical and useful after each professional development session. Outcomes could be as simple as discussing ways to implement, surveying staff for ideas, or writing a plan for implementation. Outcomes could be completed in a relatively short amount of time or take much longer. It depends upon where you are in program development. Do not rush the process.
Professional development is meant to be positive for educators and students. By disrupting time, we can create a learning environment that will benefit all.
Dr. Paula Westerman is founder and chief executive officer of DevelApped, West Educator Applications, LLC, a Pennsylvania-based firm that addresses the professional development needs of educators through a unique platform using disruption innovation. Having served in Pennsylvania public schools for over 25 years, Dr. Westerman brings her extensive educational experience as a central office administrator, secondary and elementary building administrator, and elementary teacher to provide consulting services for educators on current and relevant initiatives that will help school entities transform their programs to improve student learning and achievement.
Sources
https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/08/how-many-hours-do-educators-actually-work
https://elearningindustry.com/8-second-attention-span-organizational-learning
