Ask Teachers What They Need

What I Learned In School Today: Professional learning days are vital to learning what your staff needs.

Today was a professional development day with students off of school. While many topics were covered by different departments and grade levels, most of the elementary staff spent time on language arts instruction with a focus on reading workshop, particularly the implementation of minilessons.

Garnet Valley is implementing a newly written curriculum while shifting to reading workshop as a means for delivering meaningful reading instruction for our students. My colleagues and I have spent significant time and energy preparing professional learning experiences for our teachers so that they feel as prepared to implement the new reading curriculum with new materials using a new instructional structure. This has been no small task!

The sessions today went well as teachers worked in large and small groups and facilitators guided the conversations meaningfully. While I was happy with the day as a learning experience, feedback I received from a group of teachers at the end of the day was perhaps my most important takeaway. According to this group of teachers, the time spent on minilessons has been valuable, but at this point they need more time navigating the new curriculum in order to utilize the minilesson strategies. THIS IS VITAL INFORMATION!!! Professional learning days are designed to meet the needs of teachers just as lessons are designed to meet the needs of students. If an assessment identifies a student has a need, teachers are expected to address it. If teachers verbalize a need, it is the responsibility of the leaders who develop the professional learning to take that information, build upon it, and meet their needs. Don’t hesitate to ask teachers what they need. They will be able to tell you.