As long as we’re talking about summer—and who isn’t?—let’s talk about your plans for professional development. When I was a teacher active in the classroom, I was privileged to be living and working close to Boston, Massachusetts. For those of you who don’t know, there are about 714 colleges and universities in Boston (or so it seems). The opportunity to find a thrilling, informative, hands-on, unique, dynamic, you-name-it professional development workshop or seminar at one of these fine institutions (almost) made dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic on 128 or 93 worth it.
While funds and time did not allow me to take advantage of this situation every summer, it did make me realize that teachers in other parts of the country might have to go about professional development in more creative ways.
What are your plans for professional development this summer? What’s the most unique thing you’ve done in a summer PD workshop? Share with us.
In Milwaukee we have set up professional development for our teachers to attend through different avenues. We have on-line PD provided by our local universities. We have “face to face” PD offedered all summer long put together by district personel. And we also have moodle media site professional development which we have been preparing and videotaping all year long. Our district is diving deeper into the state standards which is a huge paradigm shift. As long as the teachers take advantage of all of the opportunities provided, we should be able to start off the next school year with all on the same page.