5 Things My Professional Learning Workshops Should Include

Recently my school district had an all day Professional Learning Day.  The administrative team was looking to do something different than just lecture at the teachers for a whole day and I was more than happy to help.  These were the 5 things I tried to do to ensure this Professional Learning Day was meaningful for the teachers in my school district.

1. Show the Teachers You Care
To show the teachers how much we care about them we provided them with a breakfast we thought would start the day off right.  As the teachers came in I made sure they had hot pancakes I was making on a large griddle I brought from home.  I am not a cook by any means, and getting eggs and flour over myself was a definite possibility so I took the easy way out and bought Shake - N - Pour pancake mix.  All I had to do was add water, shake, and flip pancakes.  So yes, I did cheat a little with how I made them, but I thought it was important to provide the teachers with something to eat before I asked them to join us in a day of learning.

2. Choice
Weeks before the Professional Learning Day we sent out a Google Form together input as to what the teachers would like to learn about.  We then sent out a Google Spreadsheet to everyone with a maximum of 25 seats in session.  Student  - teacher ratios are always important, no one should have to learn in a room of 50 people.  Each session was an hour long and some only appeared once, while others that were more popular appeared 4 times on the schedule.

3. Connect with Experts
We then found teachers who were experts in these categories to teach the teachers.  I am always amazed at how willing our staff is to share their expertise with others in a meaningful way.  I ran a session on Flipped Classroom and shared what I did as a teacher for about half of the session.  I wanted to make sure the teachers did not leave my session without getting to talk with other experts who have Flipped their classroom because so many people have ideas and tips that I would have left out.  I went to my PLN and found three of the most knowledgable Flipped Classroom teachers I could have asked for  to join me.  Delia Bush, Stacy Lovdahl, and Dayson Pasion joined us via Google Hangout for about 20 minutes.  I am beyond grateful to these three educators who gave up their own valuable time on a Monday to join our session and provide valuable insight.  They did things like give up their prep and ask their principal to if they could rearrange their schedule just to help other educators learn how to improve their craft. The insight was powerful and motivating for the teachers in this session, and the conversations I could hear from teachers later that day were all about the guests that were brought in.

For the last 10 minutes a teacher who had begun laying the ground work for Flipping her class, Amanda McPeek, showed the steps she had already taken to begin Flipping her classroom.  The teachers were impressed by Amanda, but it also showed the teachers it could be done by someone locally.  She was able to help take the fear of trying something new out of the room.

4. Focus on Relationships
Our campus has two schools across the street from one another, one is a K-4 building and the other is 5-8.  We wanted to close with some fun activities that bring the teachers from the two buildings together.  So when the teachers gathered in the cafeteria for the end of the day they had to have half the table made up of elementary teachers  and the other half middle school teachers.  Once we did that we played three team building games.

• Yank Me
• Wet Ball
• Suck it Up

These games gave the teachers a chance to problem solve, talk, and most important laugh with one another.  After a full day of learning it was important for me to send them off with a smile on their face.

5. Reflection
The next day we sent out another Google Form where the teachers reflected on each session they went to and rated it (thanks for the help Brad Currie).  We will be sharing that feedback with the teachers who presented so they can hear the great things the teachers have to say about their sessions, or learn how to improve for next time.

I know I still want to do improve, for example I didn't record the Google Hangout session I had with those Flipped Class experts and I know I should have.  If anyone out there knows how to schedule an event in Google Plus and have it record please let me know.  This was by no means a perfect Professional Learning Day, but it is one I was proud of.