What Makes Effective PD?

Edutopia- 8 Top Tips for Highly Effective PD
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/top-tips-highly-effective-pd-vicki-davis

1. Use What You Are Teaching

If a method of teaching works, that method should be used for teaching the teachers in your PD sessions. For example, if you're teaching cooperative learning but you're lecturing about it, that's undermining the message.

2. Develop Something That You'll Use Right Away

The best PD classes had us teachers create lesson plans that we could use within two weeks of completing that class.

3. Use the Lesson and Receive Feedback

Then, using a rubric created for the class, we would try out the lesson we'd created in our PD session less than two weeks ago and receive feedback from a trained administrator or a peer. If you wait to implement, you'll never implement.

4. Improve and Level Up With Another Lesson

After receiving feedback, teachers worked on another lesson. This approach of lesson design, lesson performance, and feedback is powerful. Not surprisingly, important features found in a recent study included integrating new knowledge, learning together with colleagues, and being actively engaged in meaningful discussions (van den Bergh, Ros, and Beijaard, 2015).

5. Local Responsibility and Buy-In

"Drive-by training" is rarely helpful. Without local acceptance, accountability, and follow up, teachers leave the PD class with continuing education units and not much else.

6. Long-Term Focus

PD should fit in with the long-term vision for a school or district. Some teachers groan about their district's "technology du jour" approach.

7. Empower Peer Collaboration