Researching Relevant Professional Development

Learning Task #4 - What Are My Coworkers Seeking? By Carol A. Thesing

I interviewed and/or surveyed teachers in central Minnesota about their professional development needs.

My findings were not too surprising because they were very similar to my own even though the teachers I talked with ranged from kindergarten to college level.

The type of staff development most useful to the teachers was computer training, graduation standards, and specific information related to the teachers subject area.

Every teacher chose a different format for staff development. Some of the suggested types were shadowing, hands-on activities, classroom, small group, and discussions with others doing the same job.

The most useful time intervals for staff development were curriculum training every 6 weeks to 2 months and technology training on an ongoing basis, such as one half hour per week.

The size of the group for training depended on what was being taught. Most preferred training in groups of 20 or smaller unless it was a presentation and then a large group was favored.

Everyone I talked with would like to learn from experts both locally and outside their area. They felt they each added a different perspective.

Some of the teachers I interviewed were from a central Minnesota school I did some long term subbing for this spring. I felt the results of both this survey and the one I did with the students were very interesting so I sent the principal and a teacher on their staff development team a copy. It will be interesting to see if I get a response.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 1999

Answers

Yes! I'm so thrilled when I see you all finding out your information and then NOT waiting to share it where it can do the most good!

Have you received a response from the principal and teacher on the staff development team yet? Let us know.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 1999

I think I responded on email rather than here. (I'm still learnign!) Did you get a response from the principal and teacher yet? (I know I asked you that before, but I think that will be so interesting when it comes!)

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999