Teacher Professional Development Models

When people hear “teacher professional development”, they often think of it as training of teachers. But it is not really that simple. Actually, training is only one part of teacher professional development. Professional development includes workshops, reflections, assessment, observations, etc. Teacher professional development happens through the whole teacher’s career. TPD improves teachers in their profession.

There are three categories of TPD:

1. Standardized TPD – used for the largest groups. For example, one teacher takes a course about using computers in the classroom and later shares the information with his/hers colleagues.
2. Site-based TPD – used locally. For example, a school district has a custom-made workshops about using computers in the classroom for its teachers.
3. Self-directed – used for individuals. For example, every teacher in the school learns independently through the use of the Internet.

Currently, the self-directed category is used in the University of the District of Columbia the most. I have to tell that often this method does not work for the teachers. Not all of them are comfortable and able to learn on their own. It takes a lot of dedication. Moreover, many teachers lack the development in technology which is often used in the classroom. If we want to teach our students with technology, teachers are the first ones needing the appropriate training in that area.

I would much rather recommend the site-based category. It would bring much more to the school. The professional development should be long-term, ongoing, sequenced, and cumulative, which in this case is not. Students should be the ones gaining most from the professional development. Teachers should get better for their students, not only for themselves. Since teachers should use their new knowledge and skills, this approach would work really well. For example, the students in a particular class lack the knowledge of using technology for writing. They just write their essays by hand. The site-based approach allows the teachers to learn about the web 2.0 tools. Then the English teachers can create activities for students using the web 2.0 tools. The site-based category can be customized for the needs of the school, so no resources are wasted on something that cannot be used in the classroom.

In conclusion, the teachers in the University of the District of Columbia lack the development in using technology in the classroom. My recommendation to cover the gaps in this area is to use the site-based category in professional development which can be customized to the actual needs.

Reference

Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development | infoDev.org. (n.d.). . Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.294.html

Professional Development for Teachers. (n.d.). . Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/profdevl/pd2prof.htm