Self Paced Professional Development

Yesterday I led my first official professional development as Curriculum Coordinator!! I felt like make faculty member had been frustrated with some of the sessions and I wanted to make sure my session felt meaningful and useful. I had been receiving requests from faculty members about information and guidance for using self-pacing in their own classrooms so I asked to lead a workshop during outservice. I initially planned a presentation but quickly realized that I was not practicing what I preach. I decided to treat my peers as students and make them feel what it was like to be in a self-paced class. From there, planning for the session felt a little like planning for my class. I was gathering resources, aligning them to goals, and organizing them into chunks. I was also designing practice activities so that my audience could try some of the ideas for themselves. I think it went fairly well! Here are the details.

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A week in advance I sent out a google survey to gauge interest and see where my audience was at in their understanding.

I used the results to plan the session. Most requested a work session but had specific questions that they wanted addressed, particularly with respect to tracking. About a third of respondents wanted to a full on presentation. I designed a presentation which would serve the purpose of a "mini-lecture" and I also designed three learning targets based on their questions. I provided resource and actual hands on work they could do to work on those learning targets.

The session went well! I got good feedback. The teachers appreciated the resources that I provided and they appreciated the opportunity to ask questions. While they didn't necessarily take the self-paced approach (almost everybody stayed with me on the slides), it seemed like the packet of resources was a useful takeaway that they wanted to share with others that weren't able to attend.

I think that the most important thing that I learned is that having first hand experience with the technique or strategy that you are sharing in a PD session is really key. Your audience wants to ask real and authentic questions. They want to see that you have been through it so that you can speak to their fears about change and ensure them that "it's going to work out!"

The gallery below shows the slides from my session: