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10 Professional Development Tips to Help Teachers Succeed
Professional-development requirements ensure teachers are continually learning and growing as educators. Development training has to be carefully designed to keep teachers’ needs and busy schedules in mind. Use these suggestions to craft activities that help teachers achieve more inside the classroom.
1.
Have a clear idea of what teachers need. Send a brief survey through email or distribute one at faculty meetings to get insight into the issues teachers face and learn what is relevant to their daily performance.
2.
Let teachers pick from different topics and methods of the professional development they will receive. This will help them feel more invested in their training.
3.
Allow teachers the flexibility to choose professional-development activities that fit into their schedules, rather than creating a rigid schedule of mandatory training. Options could include before- or after- school meet-ups, online training, or weekend sessions.
4.
Focus on one or two new concepts per training. Offering too many may make the training less effective.
5.
Give teachers tips, strategies, or concepts they can use immediately. Ensure that they walk away from every training session with at least one new idea they can implement in their next class.
6.
Encourage teachers to organize professional-development activities for each other throughout the year. This could include having a book club where teachers discuss issues in education or observing each other’s classrooms and providing helpful feedback.
7.
Incorporate interactive activities into each training course, such as group work, breakout sessions, and mini-lessons led by fellow teachers. This will help hold the interest of your teachers during a longer session.
8.
Allow teachers time at the end of every session to reflect on what was learned and imagine ways they can put the concepts discussed to work in their daily teaching.
9.
Offer follow-up services, such as conference calls or online meet-ups, in the weeks after a training session. It will give teachers a chance to address issues they’ve encountered while implementing new concepts in their classrooms.
10.
Track the results of training over time to make sure professional development has a positive impact. Activities that don’t result in better outcomes for students and teachers should be reevaluated.
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