“You can’t teach people everything they need to know.
The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know
when they need to know it.
- Seymour Papert, Mathematician and Professor
Professional Development
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21st Century Schools offers a variety of Professional Development services including:
Or, send a team to one of our Regional Institutes. Request schedule for cities and dates. Host a Workshop at your Campus or District - learn how to obtain our workshops at little or no cost to you! Send us a request for information: [email protected] Go to our web site dedicated to Professional Development! |
Creating Time for Effective PD
A major barrier to creating change is the insufficiency of time and funding for effective, sustainable professional development. Most schools have anywhere from one to four days per school year dedicated to professional development. Some schools have tried to create more time by squeezing in short weekly time periods of one to three hours per week. While the intentions are noble, these few hours per week are overshadowed by teachers' already overloaded schedules, their thoughts often on other things they should be doing right now. Or, the almost continual state of exhaustion or stress resulting from their regular duties.
Neither of these options are sufficient or effective. However, there is a third option! Creating in-house teams of experts who can become your campus-level instructional coaches. It's a process of starting from within, developing an initial team, providing this team with the necessary professional development. This method means that you do not have to wait for a day of professional development designated by the school district, you can initiative a sustained, long-term, supportive professional development experience for this initial team. It isn't even necessary to hire substitute teachers. Schedules can be flexed.
This first team of in-house experts will then become proficient and then train and support the next team, and so on. Pretty soon, your entire faculty will have received the needed support to sustain the change. Your school will have transitioned into the 21st century.
Contact us today to schedule your campus-wide workshop and to begin the process of developing your first tier of in-house experts!
Neither of these options are sufficient or effective. However, there is a third option! Creating in-house teams of experts who can become your campus-level instructional coaches. It's a process of starting from within, developing an initial team, providing this team with the necessary professional development. This method means that you do not have to wait for a day of professional development designated by the school district, you can initiative a sustained, long-term, supportive professional development experience for this initial team. It isn't even necessary to hire substitute teachers. Schedules can be flexed.
This first team of in-house experts will then become proficient and then train and support the next team, and so on. Pretty soon, your entire faculty will have received the needed support to sustain the change. Your school will have transitioned into the 21st century.
Contact us today to schedule your campus-wide workshop and to begin the process of developing your first tier of in-house experts!
