Standard 3.1 Professional Learning
Standard 3.1: The institution plans and delivers professional learning to improve the learning environment, learner achievement, and the institution’s effectiveness.
Power Hour
At PHS we have scheduled into our weekly/monthly plan dedicated time for professional time during what we call "Power Hour." This Power Hour was implemented as part of our COVID-19 response, and we hope that it will remain a feature in our school.
To view the Power Hour schedule, click HERE, or click the image.
Curated Media List
Payson High School maintains a curated list of recommended media (books, podcasts, articles, etc.) for faculty and staff. This is important because, as our mission statement details, we believe in high levels of learning for everyone at PHS, students and adults. Teachers can use their self-guided professional development time during Power Hour or Genius Hour, or their own time, to hone their craft by learning from these resources.
To view the list, click HERE or click on the picture
Conferences
Mini School-Site Conferences
PHS likes to host our own mini conference-style workshops. For example, on 10/12/2020 during our Power Hour time for PD, we provided four breakout session options for teachers to learn about technology use in their classrooms. This provides great professional learning for our employees and showcases the incredible in-house talent and expertise on our staff.
Outside Conferences
In addition to hosting our own mini-conferences, we encourage our staff to attend and present at professional conferences outside of the school, both at the state, regional, and national level. Some examples of conferences that we have attended and/or presented at include Utah Coalition for Educational Technology (UCET), Utah Music Educators Association (UMEA), International Thespian Festival, The Learner's Edge Conference, Instructional Leadership Conference, and National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP),
Professional Development Training
Here you will find an example of one of the administrator-led professional development presentations. This particular one mixed three big ideas: enculturating our staff with the "4 R's" of PHS (specifically, the fourth R of Reflection), research on professional expertise and mastery, and training on where to go to conduct their self-assessments and professional growth plans.
eProve Teacher Survey Results
When asked how often they receive feedback from a supervisor regarding their professional performance, only 38% of teachers said "frequently and regularly." This is an area where the PHS administration must improve. This year had the convergence of the COVID pandemic with an accreditation year. Together, these two factors created a perfect storm of issues that took up much of the administrators' time. Their hope is to organize their time better so that they can provide more frequent low-risk feedback to faculty and staff.
