top of page
What is 'Personalized PD'?

Personalized Professional Development is a way for all of us to grow and reach new heights. Teachers are able to choose the path that they feel will be the most beneficial to their growth. The ultimate outcome is to improve instruction by starting with the teacher growing their knowledge first. 

 

EXPECTATIONS:

  • Teachers will collaborate in their learning

  • Learning will result in a change in practice

  • Reflections will be shared beyond school 

stop wondering...
START DOING.

 

 

The 'Star of Education'

 

Like many precious diamonds,

Good teachers are hard to find

Yet sometimes one can discover

A rare and priceless kind,

It’s not like all the others

For it out-shines the rest

You know as soon as you see it

That this stone is the best,

A good teacher is that special gem

They do far more than teach

They make you feel, through learning,

There’s no star you cannot reach

In Art, they help you see differently

From new angles, not straight up and down

They make Geography an adventure

As the world you travel around

In History, they make you feel

You’ve lived and breathed the times

And Math is not sums, but puzzles

To stretch and tone your mind

In English they encourage you

To not just write, but feel

So that each one of your stories

Will read as if it were real,

If you ever have a question

You call and they are there

With patience and understanding

Your problems are theirs, they care

There’s usually one in every school

Superior to the rest

For they’re the ‘Star of Education’

And as such are totally priceless!

 

Copyright © Janette Fisher | Year Posted 2009

 

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LEARNING

 

There is growing research that supports individualized learning for teachers. Here are multiple links to information that not only supports the process, but also provide some valuable resources.

 

  • A Blueprint for Personalized Professional Development - EdSurge

 

  • Building the Basics of Personalized Professional Development - EdSurge

 

  • From Pre-Fab to Personalized: How Districts are Retooling PD - EdSurge

 

  • Separating the Best Professional Development From the Rest - EdSurge

 

  • Navigating Toward Personalized Professional Development - EdWeek

 

 

 

  • World Class Professional Development Workshops Online - TeachThought

 

  • Education World - Professional Development Resources - Website

 

  • DIY Professional Development: Resource Roundup - Edutopia - Website

 

"

"

"

"

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” 
― Socrates

“When you make a choice, you change the future.” 
― Deepak Chopra

"

"

"

"

“Your power to choose can never be taken from you. It can be neglected and it can be ignored. But if used, it can make all the difference.” 
― Steve Goodier

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” 
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

"

"

The W-SR Learning Tree

Inspirational Quotes

"I have learned that, although I am a good teacher, I am a much better student, and I was blessed to learn valuable lessons from my students on a daily basis. They taught me the importance of teaching to a student - and not to a test." 

--Erin Gruwell

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”

         – Mortimer Adler

“Be a student as long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.”

– Henry L. Doherty

"

"

"

"

"

"

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

The Plan...

  • "Planting the Seed" - Create a foundation of background knowledge for everyone through book study.

  • "Growing the Tree" - Allow teachers to find the learning that will be the most relevant and beneficial to them.

  • Through research, teachers will learn how to change their practice to improve student learning 

  • "Enjoying the Shade" - Teachers will take their learning to the classroom.

  • "Sharing the Vision" - Teachers will share their reflections and learning with the public audience.

Here is some background on what the other PD groups are learning this year. This is FYI only.

What is Authentic Intellectual Work?

AIW Criteria Examples

 

The criteria—construction of knowledge, through disciplined inquiry, to produce discourse, products, and performances that have meaning and value beyond success in school—provide a foundation of standards for the more complex intellectual work necessary for success in contemporary society. All three criteria are important.

 

For example, students might confront a complex calculus problem demanding much analytic thought (construction of knowledge and disciplined inquiry), but if its solution has no interest or value beyond proving competence to pass a course, students are less likely be able to use the knowledge in their lives beyond school.

 

In another example, a student might be asked to write a letter to the editor about a proposed social welfare policy. She might express that she vigorously opposes the policy but offer no arguments indicating that she understands relevant economic and moral issues. This activity may meet the criteria of constructing knowledge to produce discourse with value beyond school, but it would fall short on the criterion of disciplined inquiry, and thereby represent only superficial awareness, not deep understanding, of the issue.

 

As a final example, students might be asked to interview family members about experiences during wartime, or to conduct a survey of peer opinion on job conditions or musical preferences. These activities would connect schoolwork to students’ lives beyond school, but if students only reported what the interviewees said, without summary or analysis or drawing connections to disciplinary content, there would be virtually no construction of knowledge or disciplined inquiry.

 

Judgments about the extent to which intellectual work is “authentic” should be made on a continuum, from less to more, depending on how fully all three criteria are met.

 

The Center for Authentic Intellectual Work Website

 

bottom of page