What do Professional Development days entail

[Anonymous]

For the teachers in here, what do Professional Development days actually look like for you or in your school? We hear often how the PD days are wasted but I also hear that the county has lots of professional development offerings and workshops for staff/admin. So trying to understand the disconnect. Is it that the workshops:offerings aren’t relevant, is it that the PD days focus more on compliance items than actual development, etc?

[Anonymous]

At the end of the quarter they usually allow teachers to grade at our school and many just take the day off after getting grades in early. Other PD days do have mandatory training and it is more about compliance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the quarter they usually allow teachers to grade at our school and many just take the day off after getting grades in early. Other PD days do have mandatory training and it is more about compliance.

So if the PD days is more about compliance type items(which okay I get why teachers would want time set aside to complete), when are teachers actually getting the opportunity to participate in PD that is actually helpful to their careers and more importantly improving their skills in the job currently? I mean ideally this is what parents think these days are for in the calendar. If it just going to be compliance related training most times why not just have them performed during pre-service?

[Anonymous]

Once a quarter we actually have time to get paperwork done. Most of the others, we are required to sit in on trainings. I'm in a high school, and so each departments' needs are SO different. Yet we all sit in one topic training that may or may not have anything to do with our subject area. And it's often most of the day (around 6 hours of training that may be irrelevant, or watered down generic material lacking any substance). I would be thrilled if they let us pick our own that truly dug into topics of interest/need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once a quarter we actually have time to get paperwork done. Most of the others, we are required to sit in on trainings. I'm in a high school, and so each departments' needs are SO different. Yet we all sit in one topic training that may or may not have anything to do with our subject area. And it's often most of the day (around 6 hours of training that may be irrelevant, or watered down generic material lacking any substance). I would be thrilled if they let us pick our own that truly dug into topics of interest/need.

Also, in these trainings, they treat us like teenagers and not adult professionals. We need to sign in, sometimes there are ice breakers or gallery walk type activities. We need to do an exit ticket. It's insulting.

[Anonymous]

The above PP is exactly correct. The needs of PD are vastly different between grade levels, subjects, and even areas of the county yet we are all often expected to do the same training. That training might be beneficial, but often is not which feels like a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Are these trainings required in the contract? I can't seem to find a clear answer over how many required trainings we should actually have.

[Anonymous]

Is this the same for the early release days?

[Anonymous]

A lot of complete nonsense. There is widely marketed (and purchased!) “professional development” consisting almost solely of detailed directions about how to lay out a chalkboard or whiteboard every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this the same for the early release days?

Yes - some for paperwork, some for hours of PD sessions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the teachers in here, what do Professional Development days actually look like for you or in your school? We hear often how the PD days are wasted but I also hear that the county has lots of professional development offerings and workshops for staff/admin. So trying to understand the disconnect. Is it that the workshops:offerings aren’t relevant, is it that the PD days focus more on compliance items than actual development, etc?

Of the upcoming two half-days, our principal is using one to work on the school’s SIP and the other for grading and planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the quarter they usually allow teachers to grade at our school and many just take the day off after getting grades in early. Other PD days do have mandatory training and it is more about compliance.

So if the PD days is more about compliance type items(which okay I get why teachers would want time set aside to complete), when are teachers actually getting the opportunity to participate in PD that is actually helpful to their careers and more importantly improving their skills in the job currently? I mean ideally this is what parents think these days are for in the calendar. If it just going to be compliance related training most times why not just have them performed during pre-service?

Never!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the quarter they usually allow teachers to grade at our school and many just take the day off after getting grades in early. Other PD days do have mandatory training and it is more about compliance.

So if the PD days is more about compliance type items(which okay I get why teachers would want time set aside to complete), when are teachers actually getting the opportunity to participate in PD that is actually helpful to their careers and more importantly improving their skills in the job currently? I mean ideally this is what parents think these days are for in the calendar. If it just going to be compliance related training most times why not just have them performed during pre-service?

Never!

On my own time. I take a ton of classes on my own to maintain my license. I can choose them, and they're relevant to my interests or weak areas. The PD days are worthless to me. Occasionally we can choose which one to attend and even then it's like, more restorative justice, or self care strategies. Literally nothing new.