Ongoing Professional Development

I wrote in my last post that I am taking a course on Digital Technology in the Classroom as part of my own professional development.  What I didn't share is that I teach at a school where ongoing professional development is encouraged in somewhat of a unique way.  At my school, we have two 10-week sessions of what we term: Teacher Resource and Development Program (TRDP).  Once a week, for 10 weeks at a time, we dismiss the students one hour early to allow the teachers regular and ongoing professional development.  The rationale for this is that, while PD days are often enjoyable and informative, there is seldom time to implement and develop the ideas that we learn during these workshops and seminars.  TRDP allows for learning new ideas (often we get speakers in for the first week or two) as well as time to spend in our classroom working these new ideas into our lesson plans.  Generally we meet together as a staff for the last few weeks to share what we have done.

This year my school is spending most of our TRDP sessions on using an online curriculum mapping program.  This is quite a large undertaking since what has previously always been in the teacher's binder in now being uploaded online.  The benefits of curriculum mapping are that more sharing can take place between teachers; either of the same grade, or for teachers who would like to know what their students have learned in previous grades or will learn in later grades.  The program that we are using (Atlas Rubicon) allows us to not only share with teachers within our school, but also share lessons and lesson ideas with teachers from around the world.

Admittedly, not all teachers on staff are thrilled with using online curriculum mapping.  Several would prefer to stick with their trusty binders and not spend all of this time transferring the information onto the computer.  However, our principal and our Education Committee are looking at the long-term benefits of this program.  When I read the document Essential Conditions
for using technology for learning I immediately thought of our TRDP sessions.  Not only does my school have a shared vision, but by providing regular time to work with this program they are providing teachers with guidance and training (and technical support) so that teachers are able to implement the vision into their curriculum and planning practices.

Next time I will write about my own TRDP experiences and plans for the next session.