Connecting and Communicating your ideas
Professional Learning recognizes that teachers are learning and growing just like their students. While the term "development" indicates a process that has an endpoint, "learning" recognizes that professional growth is an endless, lifelong process. Teachers who are curious, interested, and willing to learn will always benefit most from professional Learning.
How might we create a culture of inquiry for educators? We can start with a simple change of rhetoric. As teachers, aren't we professional students? Professional growth is an endless, lifelong process in which educators or others constantly improve through a constructivist perspective that involves application and reflection.
Stopping seeing the responsibility of professional learning as the exclusive task of others is not easy; when you spend the entire school year focused on your students, you must remember what it is to train and instruct adults.
Thinking, analyzing, creating, and designing professional learning changes the perspective of what educators need. Here, you will find a compilation of my beliefs and my work team's.
It is a conscientious work with which I agree; this is the duty of a professional learning design.
It's time to start
And where should we start?
We often ask questions about how students learn, but not often about how teachers learn (Allison Gulamhussein)
After carrying out this detailed analysis, I agree with this phrase from Allison Gulamhussein; fortunately, she leaves us with an excellent guide to start developing a compelling PL. This Call to Action gives us a clear direction on how to continue.
After analyzing and studying Gulamhussein's principles, it is clear that professional learning planning goes beyond simple hours of training on the same obtuse topics with little content and application.
I enjoyed the experience of designing a concrete plan for professional development.
Always show your best attitude to start a new school year, we are teachers, we help others to achieve their goals. "The most important thing that you will ever wear is your attitude."-Jeff Moore.
It is necessary to consider The Key Principles of Effective Professional Learning. Without a doubt, principals, teachers, administrators and coaches need to find The "Why" that we want to change PL at our school.
As a teacher, I want to promote significant changes to help my students reach their goals. One of those changes is to create effective learning environments in my classroom and my organization. In addition, it is necessary to implement a new way to develop and improve the professional learning model to break the old models. I am saying that current models are correct; everyone gets something from them. Still, I am asking if we can create a system where teachers, including myself, can achieve and gain more knowledge to put into practice in the classrooms by learning on our own terms.
Professional learning presentation/outline
My work team and I developed a PL and Outline Proposal based on blended learning proposals. The proposal includes topics, facilitators, intensity and feedback mechanisms, monitoring, accompaniment, and evaluation. The three-column table focuses on a Big Audacious Goal (BHAG): Students will experience a “go and show” model of professional learning, reflect on their experience, and develop an activity they can use in their path.
In this proposal, we consider essential aspects such as the Audience and their needs, which are crucial questions that focus on staying within the objective.
The plan includes Additional Resources as training session support videos, survey forms, assessments, and materials.
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References
Duarte, N. [Stanford Graduate School of Business]. (2013a, March 21). Nancy Duarte: How to tell a story [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JrRQ1oQWQk
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
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Fink, L.D. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass. https://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf
Harapnuik.org. (2021, August). ADL program map. It’s About Learning. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=853​
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Jim Collins - concepts - BHAG. (2021). JIM COLLINS. https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/bhag.html
www.harapnuik.org. (2021). ADL/EDLD 5305 goal & 3 column table. It’s About Learning. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=8595
Many, T. W., & Sparks-Many, S. K, (2015). Leverage: Using PLCs to promote lasting improvement in schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Harapnuik Dwayne. April 1, 2020. It's About Learning. Creating Significant Learning Environments
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