PD Opportunities

From my perspective, the worst thing that can happen when a participant leaves a professional development session is that they feel as if the PD leader "said so." In fact, we hear this all the time in education and in school buildings as messages get passed down like a game of broken telephone. It is my hope that participants in any PD of mine will never leave with the notion that, "Jen said...," and rather will leave with a sound understanding of what the research says...and what it does not. With that, every PD of mine is built around two guiding questions:

1. What does the research say about this?

2. What is the purpose of this activity or routine?

By focusing learning and change around these two questions, it saves space for the ever-evolving base of scientific research that must inform our practice. It also saves space for educator introspection and reflection, as they consider breaking away from the notion of, "we have always done this" and into more evidence-based instructional routines and methodologies.