Pointers for a Powerful PD
Thoughts from Debbi Arseneaux and Madeline Beath
How can we facilitate a learning opportunity for educators that features relevant content and leads to deep understanding of the topic? We have all sat through far too many professional development workshops that rely entirely too much on basic information delivery, with little time to process or even comprehend the subject matter. There are a few key things we have found helpful to consider to avoid the pitfalls of being the “sage on the stage” and to give participants a workshop to remember.
● Purpose. When you start by framing the goals of the session and set clear intentions for the outcomes of the workshop, this helps to focus the energy of the room and forecast the process. Also, if you are clear on the intended outcomes of the session, each choice you make in its design can be truly purposeful.
● Experience is the best teacher. As Sally Smith, founder of the Lab School in Washington DC says: We have to live it to learn it. When participants experience the strategies as if they are students, they leave with a deeper sense of how the activities work and how they can transfer them to their context. This is even more likely to happen because of…
● Reflection. As John Dewey states, we don’t just learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience. During the workshop, participants need opportunities to make connections to the experience and process what they are learning. This can be done throughout using simple reflective protocols or thinking routines, and at the end to synthesize and summarize.
● Learning is social. Give participants time to work in pairs and groups, as well as individually. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development concept suggests that we learn largely from each other, particularly when a group has a range of knowledge and skills. Make sure you include time at the start of the workshop to build community in the room, even if it is only a short time, as this is essential for participants to get the most from the experience.
● The wisdom is in the room. Providing time for participants to share their insights and questions throughout the workshop allows them to share what they are gaining from the experience, rather than the facilitator telling them what they are supposed to “get.” As Habla documentarian Arnold Aprill notes, it is helpful when the facilitator then “mirrors back” the insights, by building upon them, paraphrasing, or clarifying.
● Make it real. It is important to anchor the experience in authentic practice. Showing examples of both real world applications and student work helps demonstrate how something might work and why it matters. Everything is connected. From start to finish, a successful PD will help connect participants to each other, to the content, and to the world. Educators will leave feeling that you valued their time, and ready to get back to the beautiful business of transforming lives, one student at a time.