Which came first...

... the chicken or the egg?

I don't have an answer to that question. But I'd like to pose a similar one. When teachers participate in Professional Development-does the new research or methodology change their thinking/beliefs, leading them to practice new behaviors?
That is a common theory of change.
According to Thomas Guskey (2000) the change process in adult learners is far more complex.
"Guskey's research indicates that when teachers are introduced to new ideas and strategies through a professional development experience, they start to think or believe differently only after trying some of the things in the classroom and seeing positive changes in student achievement with their own eyes. They must see the proof in the pudding that change works before they begin to question what they have always done."

From Staff Room to Classroom; Fogarty, R. and Pete, B. 2007

Overcoming skepticism is not primarily a matter of what is taught. Creating an environment where participants have opportunity to practice the skill, reflect on the outcome of the practice, and share their learning with each other, better prepares them to transfer the new skills into the classroom environment. The real learning takes place, over time, in that context.

Delivery is not primarily about what the trainer says, but much more it is about what the participants do, think, and share.

Teachers Teaching Teachers

"Teacher quality is the most significant factor in advancing student learning."
National Staff Development Council. A Study of Professional Development for Public School Educators in West Virginia, September 2005.

Teachers learning from one another is one of the most effective models of professional development.

Last night my colleague Kyna and I presented to a group of teachers preparing for Broward Education Foundation's Impact II Idea Expo.

Each of these teachers have been awarded a grant for developing "successful and motivating classroom strategies and methods." On February second they will share their ideas with other BCPS teachers who attend the Expo. Grants are available for Broward teachers who want to adapt these programs in their classrooms.

If you would like to participate in what appears to be an incredible professional development opportunity visit the Foundations website, review the Idea Catalog and register. http://www.browardschools.com/BEF/

After our presentation we became learners as we eavesdropped on the rest of the session. We were genuinely impressed with the hard work, creativity, and the fun they had as they worked together.

Learning is creation

I had the opportunity recently to view data from DOE on professional development in Florida public schools. In the 2006-07 school year over 9 million hours of workshops (including electronic) were delivered!

Workshops (Inservices) are the most common model of PD. A subject matter expert shares their knowledge with a room full of people via slide presentations, handouts and activities. If the presenter is interesting, has a sense of humor, and an engaging style the participants will 'evaluate' the workshop highly. Participants passively 'sit and git'. Does this sound familiar? Learning, in this model, is consumption. The literature over a period of more than 40 years identifies this as an ineffective model for improving skills and and changing behavior.

Workshops aren't going away. When workshops are aligned with the needs of faculty and their students, include demonstration of mastery in the workshop, and incorporate follow-up which is sustained in the workplace until new skills and behaviors become integrated, they have value. Workshops also have value when school teams participate and then bring the new learning back to their schools and work collaboratively over the course of a year (or more) to implement, adapt, and refine teaching practice.

In corporate training as well as in the educational field, engaging participants in creating their own learning demonstrates far greater ROI (Return On Investment-dollars/time/value received), or impact on personal professional practice and/or student achievement.
Adults are motivated by professional development that has immediate practical value to them in their work, or personal life. They bring their own expertise to the table. In a Google world they are not reliant on subject matter experts. They are focused on finding solutions, collaboratively, for their real world concerns. Their schedules, especially for classroom teachers, do not allow the luxury of time away for training workshops that follow the illustration above.

Literature from child development, social learning, accelerated learning, the corporate world and education over the same 40 years, supports that collaborative groups involved in inquiry, focused on solving real world problems in their places of work, are highly effective at improving employee skills, teacher practice, and engaging students in the classroom.

No one will be surprised that we are talking about learning organizations and learning communities. People who challenge themselves to keep learning, not (only?) for points, not (only?) for certification, but because they want to grow personally and professionally. They are not compelled to participate, they are driven to participate in improving their own professional practice. They are readers; they are net-surfing researchers; they are innovators-testing what they learn, refining and adapting, and sharing with one another what they are learning from their practice. They infect their students with curiosity by modeling.
They are creating their own learning.

In the same DOE data, under 700,000 hours of Learning Communities and Action Research combined were 'Delivered' statewide. The good news? 50,000 of those hours happened in Broward. The sobering news? 50,000 hours vs over 1 million hours for Broward inservice workshops!

What are some implications for the delivery of professional development in our system?

One implication would be increased use of Learning Communities as professional development delivery. What will that look like? Ask the experts. Really!

Richard and Rebecca Dufour, and Robert Eaker co-author an incredibly comprehensive blog that covers everything you might want to know about PLC's. From research articles to nuts and bolts, to Q&A and inspirational stories, it's all there. One of my favorite sections is the PLC locator that identifies schools in Florida and around the nation sharing what they have learned implementing PLC's. Many offer "evidence of effectiveness". So, visit early and often.

http://www.allthingsplc.info/

Dealing with difficult participants

The trainer arrived late for the "Train-the Trainer" session. Participants were standing and waiting, chairs were stacked on the tables, the lights were not turned on, equipment was not set-up, there were no visuals or signs to provide directions or information about the course. One loud whisper expressed the thoughts of the group, " I can't believe this. He's unprepared. What a waste of time this is going to be!".

What just happened? Before the course has even begun participant expectations of the value of the course downshifted. In this case it was the trainer's behavior, but there are a multitude of factors that contribute to participants lowered expectations for training

Here is another example-"you" are the participant. Your schedule is tight for the next several weeks. You are currently juggling 11 projects; you have established deadlines and have scheduled your work to be done. You open your email and discover that some "genius" several pay grades above you has determined that you drop everything and devote 3 days out of your schedule for "mandatory" training. You still have the same workload and deadlines, you just have fewer days to accomplish your goals.

Sound familiar? "You" are now a participant who is 'resistant', 'unmotivated', 'hostile'- or any of those other labels trainers use to describe participants that are not engaged. How would you behave in training if you were in the same boat? Wouldn't we also expect the next 3 days to be a waste of our precious time. Our expectations would downshift as well. We are now set up to be the 'difficult" participant.

How, as a trainer, can you address the problem? How do you help folks engage in training? The first step is making sure your participants are prepared to learn. How can you upshift participant expectations-help them to be eager and ready for the learning experience?

The first step is preparation. Participants need to be prepared to learn!
Accelerated Learning identifies learning as having 4 phases: Preparation, Presentation, Practice and Performance.

The goal of the Preparation Phase is to arouse learners' interest, give them positive feelings about the forthcoming learning experience, and put them into an optimal state for learning. You do this through:

• positive suggestions
• learner benefit statements
• clear, meaningful goals
• creating a positive physical environment
• creating a positive emotional environment
• creating a positive social environment
• calming people's fears
• removing learning barriers
• raising questions and posing problems
  
• arousing peoples curiosity
• getting people fully involved from the start

(From The Accelerated Learning Handbook by Dave Meier. The Center for Accelerated Learning, 1103 Wisconsin Street, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147) http://www.alcenter.com

The trainer who had arrived unprepared asked the participants; "Those of you who have worked with me know that it is not my practice to be unprepared. If you will give me the benefit of the doubt, I promise to turn this around and make this an unforgettable training for you. Will you give me a second chance?" They agreed, at which point he asked them to follow him to a "better" training room. The room was well lit. A colorful flip chart welcomed them. Music was playing. Tables were set replete with materials. A PowerPoint lit the screen at the front of the room. "You'll find a 3x5 card at each seat," the trainer said. "On the front of the card I would like you to list everything wrong about the first training situation this morning, and how you felt about it. On the flip side of the 3x5 I want you to list everything right about our current training situation, and how it effected your expectations for today." A few of the participants chuckled as they all began to complete the activity. The upshifted expectations were expressed debriefing the 3x5's, "You lost me at the beginning. But now you have my attention. I may get more out of this than I thought."

When the learners curiosity and interest are aroused, when the learner expects the training to be valuable, when the learners expect direct benefit from the training, when the environment is comfortable and activities are challenging, genuine engagement occurs.

Learner engagement reduces or eliminates the need to deal with "difficult" participants. It's not the only strategy, but it should be our first.

PDFE-Keys to Quality

Planning, Delivery, Follow-up and Evaluation- these are the components required for all quality professional development. What are the hallmarks of quality professional development? The true mark of quality is in results obtained. The goal of all professional development delivered for the BCPS is to enhance employee performance and impact student achievement. How can we support those outcomes in the Delivery of professional development?

Delivery is more than presentation. Have you ever been to "training" and found the trainer to have excellent presentation skills: professional appearance, presence, energy, sense of humor, verbal skills, visuals and handouts, and relevant personal anecdotes. When the training was over you left feeling entertained and motivated to use the new ideas or information presented. When you returned to your workplace you tried to implement what you had heard and seen, but you weren't clear on the "how to". Chances are after some initial attempts, the onslaught of daily pressures hammered you back to the 'same-ole, same-ole'.
The presentation skills weren't enough. The trainer/facilitator committed the unpardonable sin of allowing you to leave without making certain that participants can demonstrate "how to" use the info or skills.
Presentation skills are important. However, the purpose of training is to change, to improve our practice. The keys to performance improvement: Modeling, Practice and Feedback.
Nothing profound here. That's how we learn.


Remember learning to tie your shoes? "Make two bunny ears. The bunny runs around the tree. The bunny jumps in a hole. Close it up tight!"
We saw the behavior demonstrated (by the trainer in this context); we practiced the skill-usually inexpertly at the start-focusing all our attention trying to get our little fingers to make the new and uncomfortable gyrations; we compared our practice to the model, to identify what we were doing correctly and what changes we needed to make to perform the skill correctly; sometimes that included someone coaching us through the process. We continued practice and feedback until we achieved mastery. When we 'got it' we couldn't wait to share our accomplishment with everyone.

We're adults now. Tying our shoes is automatic behavior, programmed in. We still learn the same way.
The keys to effective Delivery: Model, Practice, and Feedback; followed by an assessment of mastery.

The Joy of Learning

The favorite part of my day is watching Sesame Street. It caters to my infant grandaughter. She laughs with glee when Elmo's World begins to play. She chuckles outrageously when the little worm pleads "Read More". She studies furiously the faces and actions of the children on the screen. Her joy is infectious. She is learning. Her involvement is total. New wrinkles are forming in her grey matter, synapses are forming and firing, connections are being made that she will draw on for the rest of her life. She's clapping, singing and having fun. She's creating meaning and value in her young life as easily and effortlessly as drawing breath. Learning is natural and exciting.

Sometimes you can see a similar joy on the faces of adults who are collaborating on a common problem, searching together for solutions, and BANG you can see the light come on as the connections are made and a solution is found. Involvement is total, synapses are exploding in clusters of millions, brows are furrowed and colleagues converse and laugh. They are learning AND they are having fun. They are creating meaning and value in their lives as well.

Sesame Street is the result of tremendous preparation, deep thought, skilled facilitation, and massive creativity. It draws us into a comforting and challenging environment that promotes an acceleration of the learning process. The same is true of creating and facilitating an environment for adult learning. It's powerful when it happens.

How do we capture that in a bottle? What can we do as training facilitators to help our participants engage fully in their own learning process? How do we create an environment that accelerates the learning process?

Those are the types of questions we want to explore on this site. Share with us what you are doing that works. Share your struggles with us- as trainers we all have them- and we're interested in hearing your solutions. Do you have some great resources, websites, freebies, a life changing book or article? Tell us about them here. We'll bring stuff to the table for you, and share. In the process we can impact the delivery of our work, professional development for the teachers and staff in our district.