How To Find Your Next PD Topic

When it’s time to plan professional development, the topic should not come from a book, a conference, an expert speaker, or a tweet.

PD Flows From Classrooms

PD should always flow directly from what you’ve seen in classrooms. When you spend time in classroom, it will be very obvious what you need to work on.

• You’ll notice, “Hmm, there’s a whole group of teachers who aren’t waiting long enough for responses. We need to work on wait time.” (I wrote about ‘wait time’ here.)
• You might notice that teachers are asking confusing questions. Students struggle to answer because they don’t know what they’re even being asked. I have a whole series on asking better questions.
• Maybe you realize that a lot of classrooms need help with transitioning from one task to the next. (I played the Andy Griffith theme song. Students knew it meant to pack up and get to their seats before the song ended. I stole this from Rick Morris.)

All of those needs are pretty basic.

But, in my experience, that’s what teachers need help with!

Teachers’ Needs Are Simple and Predictable

Teachers need help with:

• asking questions well
• managing individual students
• managing groups of students
• transitioning between activities
• even passing papers out efficiently

They do not need a whole new educational framework from Dr. Such-and-Such, PhD when they struggle with things like:

“What do I say when a student blurts out the wrong answer?”

Start In Classrooms, Not Conferences

Get into classrooms. Once there, you can offer immediate feedback. You can model corrections for the teacher. You’ll get to know students. You get to know teachers!

Beware attending conferences. You’ll hear 17 new ideas. Sure, these ideas will sound interesting. But they won’t connect with teachers’ actual needs. They’ll just add work to already overworked teachers.

So, in short:

• Always, always, always start by watching classrooms.
• Note the most obvious problems. (And they will be obvious!)
• Build your professional development around solving those problems.

Your PD will be specific, relevant, and actually helpful!