On Professional Development

Back when I was in university, I had this incredible professor who taught educational technology. During that course, his drive and knowledge inspired me so much that, long after his course ended, I kept coming back to sit in his classes because I knew I’d keep learning new things. That’s how I got the idea for my master’s degree thesis. And after fighting the system a bit, he became my tutor.

He was the only educator that could give me the feedback I needed to reflect on because he cared about my learning. The ideas that came out of that thesis have been driving my learning ever since. It all connects back to those visits to his classroom and conversations that followed.

When I think of professional development, that’s what I see: an idea that sparks and the connections I then make to understand more about it—learning about something for myself instead of waiting for a conference or mandatory training.

There is such an inspirational high when I dive into new ideas. It’s like binge-watching something on Netflix and giving myself excuses to keep playing the next episode. I can’t get enough of blogs, books, articles, podcasts. On occasions, I’ve experienced that high in a more formal setting, like teaching conferences at some fancy hotel or when consultants visit the schools where I work. Often, when the presenter knows how to connect with the audience, I’ll connect to new ideas and hold on for a while.

The issue I have is that, after the conference ends, I usually return to the classroom and get carried away with routine so that inspiration vanishes in between meetings and lunch duties—no more high, just a bunch of notes written on a branded notepad drowning under piles of work.

The work teachers do after returning from a conference or seminar is where professional development lives and breathes. The application/reflection of whatever ideas experts share is what makes someone grow as an educator. That work in the classroom, day after day, is a way to make sense of that high. I’ve asked several colleagues about this, and these are the reasons they feel things fall apart:

• There is no time. Time to reread those notes, time to have conversations with others, time to try-fail-try again. Time to pause something to give this new idea a chance. To say yes to a new idea, we always have to say no to something we’re already doing, and that is scary.
• There is a time-space disconnect from such new ideas to the reality of their classrooms. The repeated phrase I’ve heard goes something like this, “Yeah, that would work somewhere where ____ but here it won’t because ___.”
• Isolation; this one resonated with me the most. When I’m at a conference, I meet people with similar goals and interests to try something new. These aren’t usually the people I work with though; having reflective conversations with colleagues who weren’t at the conference is not common, at least it’s not for me. Not having someone to talk about things can quickly kill my motivation.

But conference follow-up isn’t the only way to get professional development wrong; there is also a lack of opportunities. Like when I received rejection letters from certain institutes because of capacity limitations or geographic preferences. Those harmed my desire to keep learning about something for a little while. Luckily, ideas are no longer attached to a building or a single expert.

I know that if I want to dive into something, I have to make do with what I find online and by investing in certain books; most of all, I have to work to create a community of people that are willing to learn with me. People who can invite me to reflect like that dear professor always did. People with whom I can be vulnerable and are eager to point me in the right direction. That community, which I’m still having a hard time finding, will be my place to keep growing.