Tips For Success
When selecting your courses, several considerations will help you maximize your experiences within the professional development system:
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What's most important to you?
"Priority is critical; you can’t do it all."
The first step to choosing professional development is prioritizing. This occurs first by knowing your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and how those strengths and weaknesses compare to what is offered in the course catalog. Once you’ve done this reflection, you know where to start. Spending your time wisely means everything.
What are my strengths?
"Know thyself–and know thy strengths."
There is something to be said for building on your strengths –knowing where you’re naturally “good” and staying in that sweet spot. Select experiences that further those skills so that you can shine even as you are building your areas for growth (see below). Every teacher is good at something. Know what you’re good at, and grow from there.
In which areas can I grow?
"Once we accept our limits, we can go beyond them."
In addition to building on your strengths, stepping outside your comfort zone to improve your areas for growth is also critical for development. Many corps members find diversity of learning experiences helpful in their development, and knowing where you’re overdeveloped and where you might be the opposite is important in determining the right experiences for you.
What if my needs change over the course of the year?
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
We know that your needs might change over the semester; the Course Catalog is meant to assist you and not lock you into a certain course of action. You should feel empowered to make the changes that best fit your current needs. You will have up to a month before the course starts to change experiences by logging into your GoSignMeUp account and determining if there is space left for you to enroll in a different course.
What local initatives should I consider?
"No person is an island; we need others to keep us whole."
Another important element of choosing your PD experiences involves knowing what others (your district, your school, your students, your parents, etc…) are doing and what they need from you. As a teacher, you’re a single gear in a huge machine that depends on you to be great. Find out where the “district is going” next year and beyond, and identify training that overlaps between your needs and theirs.
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How do I get the most from this experience with so few requirements?
"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."
It is critical for your students that you go beyond the minimum requirements in the course catalog in order to learn and grow in your teaching practice. We also caution against skipping learning experiences you’ve planned to attend, unless you have strong reasons. Many teachers often regret not taking advantage of what is offered and what they selected. In addition, this could result in attending sessions simply to earn credits by the end of each semester, rather than making your development truly intentional.
What's a good way to keep up with the course I select?
“We all have a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”
You will receive an email once you sign up for courses that you can add to your GCal or Outlook calendar. Otherwise, this depends on your organization style, but here are a few tips. First, put them in your calendar as soon as you select them. Second, communicate with your principal or school staff about your professional development selections and time commitments. Third, watch the blast each week for any updates.