Develop Your Staff
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Professional development activities that have proven effective will be included in Develop Your Staff. Your contributions are welcome. Send them to principal@osu.edu. Please indicate if we may use your name in the “contributor” credits.
Creating Time for Professional Development
Time is a precious commodity in schools. The lack of time erodes the effectiveness of school improvement programs and implementation of innovations in teaching and learning. Some suggestions to provide more time for professional development come from Victoria L. Bernhardt, Ph.D., in The School Portfolio Toolkit (2002, Eye on Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY):
- Team teaching, releasing one or more teachers to attend professional development training or to observe another teacher teaching
- Banking time by adding 10 minutes of instruction to 4 days a week and having early release time one day a week that is dedicated to staff planning and vision implementation
- Structuring the day so teachers get an hour to plan each day, preferably with a targeted team member
- Dedicating school meeting times to learning and implementing the vision
- Adding time to the beginning and/or the end of the day or school year for staff learning
- Using video and technology to tape excellent lessons for teachers to review on their own time
- Meeting as a study group for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on a regular basis
- Utilizing substitutes and other school personnel to release classroom teachers to engage in job-embedded professional development
- Scheduling lunches and planning periods for teachers working together
- Teachers reciprocally trading off to conduct activities for students while groups of teachers meet for planning time
- Implementing block scheduling
- Rethinking the number of supplementary staff
- Staggering teachers’ teaching schedules
Other suggestions include:
- Planning summer retreats for concentrated planning and meeting time.
- Hiring retired teachers from your own building to become regular professional development substitutes. This provides continuity for students and their learning.
- Using all time provided by the district for professional development. Allowing this time to be eroded by teachers taking time off for appointments or to do regular work in their classrooms will result in the loss of this valuable resource.
- Making sure you follow the contractual protocols for “changing working conditions” if your school is unionized. Get buy-in and a sign-off for all who are affected by changes.
- Trust teachers to get the work accomplished. They can be creative in carving out their own time if there is sufficient ownership and rationale for the work.
- Follow all rules regarding the supervision of students. Have appropriate school personnel accountable for students at all times. Follow all rules and policies in your district regarding the use of volunteers.
