Professional Learning

Professional learning is such an important part of what we do. Attending workshops and conferences is one of the ways we access information to help us improve the way we do our job. Unfortunately, many of the sessions we attend don’t live up to our expectations and leave us feeling cynical about leaving the classroom and attending sessions in the future. In the last week, I have attended two conferences and thankfully, both have been fantastic.

On Friday, I attended a workshop run by Dr Ian Lillico on Educating Boys. As a teacher of an all boys class this was invaluable, but I would highly recommend this session for all teachers. Having an understanding of brain difference between girls and boys is essential for all teachers and can help to allow both boys and girls to achieve better at school. If nothing else, check out Lillico’s website ( www.boysforward.com ) and read through his 52 Recommendations for Boys in Schools.

On Monday, our whole staff attended a full day workshop run by Dylan Wiliam. The day provided us with some confronting data, but also some fantastic ideas for practice that we were able to put to use in our classrooms immediately. His work around questioning and feedback was brilliant and again, I highly recommend attending a workshop if you get an opportunity while he is in the country. Wiliam’s website can be found at www.dylanwiliam.net and is also on Twitter ( @dylanwiliam )

Attending good professional development can be inspiring, and helps us to continue improving as teachers. I would love our education department to see the value of adding a Twitter hashtag to all PD sessions. Adding this option allows for great back channel discussion for participants as well as extending the conversations and learning beyond the room.

This term, I am looking forward to attending more of these valuable sessions with our TeachMeet and a workshop with George Couros ( @gcouros georgecouros.ca/blog) both hosted at Hackham East Primary (and both with hashtags!).