Time to Change
3 Ways to Make Professional Development Work All Year.
No school wants to waste time and money. Unfortunately, long-standing professional development practices are likely to waste valuable teacher time and school funds. Why? Likely due to basic misunderstandings of adult learning and school change. Here are three ways to leverage research when it is time to make changes.
Start With the Why
Understanding the why is motivating. When we link our learning to our purpose, we engage the limbic brain, the part of the brain that controls a person’s feelings, decisions, and behavior. Nearly 20 years ago Simon Sinek explained how inspired organizations start with the why to activate the limbic brain and our sense of trust that drives behavior.
Clear communication of the why engages our belief system in the moment and helps define school culture for the long run. When the “why” lives somewhere between minutiae and the abstract, it is even more motivating. The sweet spot for a motivating “why” is something aspirational and attainable. So, alongside the why schools must provide the steps for the what and how.
The what and the how offer the proof of the why. During the early days founding a mission driven school, a founding teacher said to new staff, “I believed in why we were doing school differently. It was a leap of faith and then I saw that what we were doing was more effective and more joyful.” That teacher made a career decision based on the driving why and stayed because of the evidence. Our professional development should start in the why and offer the tools to bring that why to reality.
Entertain the Brain
Engagement matters for adults as well as children. We know that learning is social, yet often we place teachers in a “sit and get” lecture style setting where they are as likely to check their email as listen to the professional development. We can leverage the social setting by simply asking adults to “turn and talk” about a new concept. Versions of turn and talk can used to offer variety of partners and create a positive environment that prims the brain for learning. My favorite liberating structure is called “rotation station”. Rotation Station involves two concentric circles that are facing one another. Each partner gets 30 seconds to respond to a prompt before a chime rings and the outside circle rotates one position to the right and new partners respond to a new question. After 3 or 4 rotations, the energy in the room is palpably different. Teachers often report that these sessions allowed them to connect with a colleague they didn’t often talk with and were fun and energizing. Importantly, it also allows everyone to feel heard and included, even in large group development sessions. To ensure the adult brain is turned on for learning, make professional development inclusive, active and social.
Tailor Method to Message
Implementation Science tells us that the “one and done” nature of most professional development may result in a 5% change in behaviors. If the professional development message is that it is time to change behavior, then the workshop must be followed up with practice and feedback. One approach to encouraging practice includes asking teachers to take even 3-minutes to make a written plan for how they will implement what they have just learned. Intention setting has the bonus of boosting our mood and this positivity encourages change in behavior.
Most school leaders are after that 95% of change happens when teachers implement new learnings with feedback and coaching. Not all schools have the luxury of dedicated coaches, so it may be necessary to create informal coaching structures. Schools can determine learning cohorts who agree to review practice and offer feedback to ensure that the best laid plans become a real path for change. Alternatively, skilled educators can offer structured feedback for teachers they mentor, as they model reflections on their practice. The key to meaningful change is to offer support during implementation in the real world of the classroom.
As school leaders plan for a new year of professional development, they can strengthen each session before, during and after by attending to purpose, engagement and implementation.
