Professional+Development

Examples of Professional Development in 214

Across the history of the development of accountability in schools, there have been some dumb ideas, some really dumb ideas, and the occasional really good idea. So I don't go off on a rant, suffice to say that the really dumb ideas are administered by a certain test-creating organization that was founded by eugenicists. (Hmmm, eugenicists? now there's a word you don't hear everyday. Let's explain what a eugenicist is.)

Okay folks, let's go postmodern. There's modernism which was a reaction to the romanticism of the nineteenth century and post modernism was a reaction to modernism. The reason this is a postmodern text is because there are several voices, now identified by colors. Tobie is pinkish purple, so far. I'm black and aqua. Who knows--we may have a whole rainbow by the time we get "done" with this document. I guess that's another post-modern characteristic--there is no point at which this text is necessarily done. It's more likely to get abandoned.

Eugenicist. "Eu" is Greek for "good." Basically the idea behind eugenics was to breed a better human being. Does this sound eerily familiar? That's because it was a major idea in the Nazi regime. The Educational Testing Service was created by Americans who believed that our society would be better off if upper class people had more kids than poor people/minorities/etc. To be "fair" (I don't want to be fair to these folks, so I guess this is academic disclosure rather than fairness), eugenics was embraced by a lot of people in the 1930s. For example, people like Margaret Sanger, who led the movement in favor of birth control, supported eugenicist ideas. Unfortunately, this idea continues to live on. In the 1990s an infamous book called The Bell Curve was published and it had the same basic ideas. If you want to know more about what my dear friend Juanita Price and I had to say about that book, read here: [] Here is an example of a really good idea: the Individual Professional Development Plan. (IPDP, pronounced "ippy-dippy").

The idea behind it is this: teachers self-assess to consider what they need to do to improve their teaching practice. Then they pursue whatever it is they believe they need, and they develop a portfolio that demonstrates their acquisition of this new knowledge or skill. The IPDP is approved by a local committee, and while I am sure there are instances of problems with this set-up, for the most part it is a sane and thoughtful idea, in part because it puts teachers, who after all are really and truely professionals in charge of their own professional development. The IPDI idea doesn't assume that some authority knows any more about what a teacher needs to do to broaden and deepen teaching skills than the teachers themselves. Believe it or not, the movement to IPDI's as the means of renewing teaching credendials was an absolute sea change in the way teaching credendials have been renewed. Prior to the "invention" of the IPDI, teachers were dependent on state boards of education to say how many and what kink of "AIS" hours they needed to spend in a college course in order to renew a license to teach. (Pardon the bluntness. AIS is an acronymn for "ass in seat" time. It has nothing to do with real learning or professional growth...only with how much time an individual sits in a seat that is located on a university campus. Aren't you glad we've gotten beyond that? I am!) With the advent of the IPDI, teachers themselves determine the kind of professional development experiences will advance their skills.

The main reason I like the IPDP is that it encourages teachers to become self-educated in the sense of taking responsibility for the direction in which their education goes. Each of us has a different teaching practice and a different array of strengths and weaknesses. The IPDP process acknowledges not only that each individual is unique but also that each teacher has the wisdom to be able to self-assess and then do something about that self-assessment.

I believe college education should model itself after the IPDP process because ultimately we are in charge of our own learning. As I pointed out in an essay on rethinking education ([|http://www.academicleadership.org/authors/Carolyn_Osborne.shtml)], no one can force another person to learn. From the time we are infants, we have the choice whether to learn or not learn. I know from having done it myself that it is possible to take classes, do well in them, and not really learn (I led a coup d'etat in one class, but that's another story)--or at least not learn what the teacher set out for the students to learn. Choosing not to learn is one form of resistance to which students have access, whether or not it is a good longterm strategy.

Therefore, in Education 214 we are asking students to do a short term IPDP-type project in class. Believe it or not, once you jump in and get the idea of doing IPDI's you will forever be empowered to move your on growth as a teacher forward. You will enter the teaching field way ahead of some teachers who learned "helplessness" in terms of advancing their careers. You will know that you are in charge of your own professional development. Consider yourself as a teacher right now. What are your strengths in this area right now? Where do you need to work? Consider the focus of this class: using the arts (but also creating engaging, organic lesson plans that help students construct knowledge). Consider the curriculum: math, science, literacy, social studies. What is easy for you? What is hard for you? What would be a good first step towards your growth as a teacher, that you could take right now? Think in terms of something you could do in about three hours-worth of time, so not a big project but maybe the first step of a project. Here are some ideas:

Try out.... different kinds of art forms. Learn a new skill that you can share with students who might be especially attracted to trying out the skill you have stretched to learn. For example, can you learn to yoddle, to crochet, to weave, to cut out sillouhettes, to play the drums, to toot on a flute, to dance, to design fabric, to debate, to negotiate, to counsel, to cook amzaing desserts, to do a split, to do a magic trick, or a card trick, to design crossword puzzles, to throw a pot, to make a movie online, to mix a tape, to burn a CD, to train a puppy, to..well, I bet you get the idea! Stretching to learn is important, because when learning is easy, we miss out on the joy of overcoming obstacles in pursuit of new competencies.

There is a poem I like to shre about being a messanger from "on most high." (Eventually, I'll refind the peom and post it on our Wiki.) The poem says that each of us are born with pieces of a puzzle, like in the days before jigsaw puzzels were sealed in plastic so we could be sure everyone had all the pieces. Some of us are born with nearly all the pieces in place. Others have to struggle to find some of the pieces. But, know this, the peom says, that each of us are born with pieces of someone else's puzzle and that when we present that piece to the other, whether we know it or not, whether they know it or not, we are being messangers from on most high. That means we are doing the work in this world we are meant to do! That is ever so true of the work that we teachers do, day in and out, over the years, and throughout our lives. what pieces of someone else's puzzle can you assemble? The answer to that question will lead you in the direction of individual professional development. Create...lesson plans, books, poetry, samples to use with students,

Allison's Idea:

I downloaded some papers online and put together a small workbook. Although it is a workbook, each page is made into a game, which is something the kids would love! I based it off of science and animals since kids seem to love animals. The first page was to match up the animals to their right habitats. I also put a coloring page, a word search and I made dice that have animals pictures on it. The dice could be used in different ways, they could make the noises the animal makes or name where it lives.