Job Embedded Professional Development: A Achieving The Desired Success Strategies

By Joseph Patterson


For years, a lot of classroom teachers have exhibited some misgivings on professional development. To most teachers, the idea of teaching and handling the unique personalities and behavior of students for a great part of the day and still close the day with a workshop, training or in-service is not appealing. To make Job Embedded Professional Development for teachers appealing, three guiding principles ought to be considered: engagement, relevance, and opportunities for ongoing support.

What types of Professionals that attend these courses? In reality, any and every type of professional attends these development meetings. Doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers, architects, CEO's and even military personnel. It is important to understand that these improvement courses can be applied to a wide range of jobs.

Some people may attend to strengthen certain career attributes they have or gain some that they need to perform a job. Some leadership classes are taught here, that will help a shy, introvert person come out of their shells and lead a team of people within a business. Other skills are taught within these courses that will help create better business people and experts.

In addition to relevance, PD opportunities should also allow teachers to participate in learning engagements. These learning engagements should be developed to allow time for teachers to receive guided, shared and independent practice in instructional practices that are modeled by the administrator. During this time, the administrator is afforded the opportunity to observe and to provide supportive feedback to classroom teachers, while the teachers can learn alongside their colleagues and pose questions for clarification.

Besides, it is also necessary that opportunities for ongoing support be integrated as a part of the PD opportunity. Too often, teachers receive a form of "drive-by training, " which is simply a superficial level of training, yet they are still expected to implement it with fidelity. Without ongoing support, teachers are left to implement the information that they gained from professional learning opportunities on their own.

Teachers must rely on the information that they can recall and to depend on their fellow colleagues for support and direction. However, for a sufficient amount of support, educators seek support from other instructional support staff such as instructional coaches or curriculum coordinators. These individuals possess specialized knowledge and have the availability that gives them the opportunity to provide the type of support that teachers seek after receiving professional training.

Professional learning opportunities that work must be teacher-centered and integrate adult-learning theories. This is similar to classroom instruction which is geared toward student-centeredness and child development theories. The effectiveness of these opportunities must be grounded in the idea that staff developers and facilitators design workshops that will leave a positive impression upon teachers and that easily transfer into their classroom instruction.

PD has a wide variety of different benefits to those that choose to go through with the training or lesson plans. Primarily it can help them progress in their career or field. This means that a person who is starting off at the bottom of the totem pole can develop the skills to work their way up to the top of a company. It also allows a professional the opportunity to learn new skills that will keep them on top of their game and enable them to provide the best service to their customers.




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