Back-to-School Professional Development

BTS professional development can be some of the best and some of the worst experiences.

Why BTS PD Can Be Frustrating —

1. Unnecessary Repetition
2. Same Thing in a Different Package
3. Too Many Required Items
4. Icebreakers and Interactive Elements

For most teachers, BTS PD is dreaded. Primarily, I was frustrated by the amount of time taken up in meetings and trainings that did little or nothing to help me accomplish the real tasks I needed to complete before the first day for students. This meant that I stayed very late and often spent the weekend before the first day in my classroom trying frantically to make sure everything was in order to greet my incoming students.

Many years I was fortunate to recruit family (i.e., my brothers, my parents, my nieces and nephews) as helpers to assist on the typical one work day in my room plus the weekend. (My baby brother was so accustomed to the BTS preparation that he swore never to become a teacher because it was too much work. However, he did marry an elementary teacher; and she was the envy of her colleagues for how well he helped set up her classroom.)

Not everyone is as lucky with extra help as I was. New teachers are also overwhelmed with setting up a new classroom, organizing instructional materials, and planning classroom management. Experienced teachers may also lack time to help newer teachers manage everything because they too are overwhelmed with BTS meetings. Especially during my years as a department chair, I came back to the building several days before our official start to work on my room, so I was available to new teachers to help them navigate systems and the abundant technology in our district.

This needless stress on teachers can be avoided by streamlining many of the processes and trainings during BTS PD. It takes thoughtful planning on the part of all levels of leadership from the superintendent to the team lead.

How BTS PD Can Be Better —

1. Leaders Think First — Leaders at all levels should think first about the actual time needed to complete what teachers want and need to accomplish before students return in terms of planning, organizing, and presenting. This means from the superintendent down to the team lead, everyone thinks about how much time this will take and how to maximize the efficient use of time. Leaders must also remember the stress of BTS from their own time in the classroom and make the experience better for their own staff.
2. Add Something, Take Away Something — Too often leaders at all levels add to the tasks and expectations of teachers without taking anything else away. Everything added means more time needed to do the job adequately. We need leaders to consider what can be let go in order to prioritize something new.
3. Meeting Rationales — I definitely experienced years in which leaders felt the compulsion to meet about everything in person. I loved when Zoom meetings replaced in-person meetings for a while. The mantra I learned in leadership training was that unless the agenda included a decision to be made or a task to be accomplished, it could be an email. WOW! (Of course, this requires everyone on the team to read the emails. Those who don’t read the emails help create this micro-management dissemination of information.) As a department chair, I wanted teachers to leave with concrete information or resources to do their jobs and complete a task that needed to be done. I hated scheduling a meeting just because we were expected to have a meeting.
4. Allow Choice — Every educator has strengths and weaknesses. Providing PD options during BTS PD allows teachers to select areas they want to review, strengthen, or learn for the first time. Many experienced teachers waste time in PD that is a repeat of what has been presented for years. Use technology to provide review modules (with quizzes or tasks, if needed) to demonstrate knowledge of the yearly compliance trainings. Create virtual and in-person options to train staff on new strategies or programs with each training creating something for early instruction or completion of an administrative or organization task.
5. STOP Reinventing the Wheel — Experienced teachers know that strategies, ideas, and programs often show up again with a slightly different name or packaging. This is an opportunity for both honesty and choice. Be transparent about how this is similar to another strategy or program and how it is different or expanded. Offer staff who are already familiar with the training a chance to help lead it or provide valuable insight into ways to make the strategy or program more effective. Experienced staff could also complete a review module and move on to other training or tasks.
6. Respect Teacher Differentiation — I’ve often found after several days of PD that seeks to incorporate every icebreaker, participation strategy, and learning style that I am emotionally exhausted. Many teachers are introverts who play an Oscar worthy performance of the extrovert when teaching. So when we demand highly active participation and sharing in sessions, we drain the energy these teachers are storing for the most important audience–their students. I understand the need and desire to incorporate sound strategies and instructional techniques in training as modeling, but balance these types of PD with other individualized or small group trainings.
7. Create a Resource Treasure Trove — For many teachers, we just need to know where to find information, processes, and forms to complete the many instructional and administrative tasks during the average day. Using BTS time to walk everyone through this information wastes time. Technology provides a much more efficient way to collect and organize the immense amount of information that may be needed by staff on any given day. Do a short video or in-person training to walk the staff through where to find the resources in the school LMS or website, how to navigate to the necessary information, and who to contact with questions.

I hope you have fantastic back-to-school experience and arrive refreshed, reenergized, and recommitted to helping every student learn and grow!