The 100 Percent Principal Podcast
Your Teachers Don't Need More PD. They Need Implementation.
A principal brought her beginning-of-the-year PD plan to BU Office Hours recently. Earlier in the summer, she had introduced her teachers to our Rigorous Unit Planning Process. The session had gone beautifully. The teachers understood it. They were excited about it. She had even shared the idea with parents, who loved the thought of their children learning to think—not simply complete assignments. Still, she was worried. Her teachers would soon be expected to use the process for their own unit planning. What if they weren't ready? Did she need to provide more training? It was a perfectly reasonable question. But as we talked, I realized that another round of training might actually postpone the very thing she wanted to produce. That conversation stayed with me because principals everywhere are planning PD right now—and many are working very hard to create engaging sessions that still leave teachers with the hardest part to complete on their own. I call it great PD with implied homework. In this week's episode, I explore why even excellent professional development so often fails to survive contact with real classrooms—and what to do instead. If you're planning PD for your teachers this fall, this one may change what you put on the agenda.
