Posted by:
Aaron Listhaus
K-12 Classroom teacher
Long Island, NY

Topic:
Reply to S. Smith

Message:

How do we help teachers to make connections between the behaviors we model in professional development and their classroom practice?

How were these behaviors identified? How have teachers been invited into the planning and goal setting of the professional development initiative? How well do the behaviors being modeled respond to the issues classroom teachers are facing? Is the school attempting to solve an issue related to student outcomes that the teachers believe is relevant to them? Will all teachers be expected to demonstrate these behaviors?

The connection between professional development content and classroom practice will only be made if the target behavior responds to issues the teachers believe are important to them. Teachers must buy into the goals of the professional development program before they can make such connections.

I once taught in a large academic high school. One year's goal was writing across the curriculum. Every teacher, even math teachers were instructed in how to incorporate, encourage and support students' writing skills. However, everyone knew that subject teachers would be assessed by how well their students would do on state exams. So, while this professional development initiative was well thought out and planned, it was meaningless in terms of what was really expected of these teachers. The question that students ask, but teachers quickly figure out for themselves, is "Does it count?"

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