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Welcome to the first ever installment of the SpedSafari book club! This month, we are reading and discussing The Four O’Clock Faculty by Rich Czyz!
The big picture- what’s it about, and why should we as professional educators care?
The nitty gritty- what rationale for changes in practice are there, in different educational environments?
The takeaway for tomorrow- what knowledge can we apply in our classrooms tomorrow?
So without further ado, let’s dive in!
The Big Picture
It’s a rite of passage in most jobs to have to go a terrible staff meeting or a terrible professional development.
Done well, professional development is absolutely critical to your long term professional growth and success. This means self-efficacy for you, and successful outcomes for your students. Teaching is a constantly evolving, changing, growing practice, and it’s critical that we stay abreast of new developments and work to hone our skills.
And yet, everyone has a horror story of how pointless these endeavors are, how little there is to learn from them, and how stressful it is to be taken away from the countless other tasks that need to be done to attend another meeting or workshop.
Well, Rich Czyz isn’t having it, people. He argues in The Four O’Clock Faculty that each individual teacher is a subject matter expert on what he or she needs to get to the next level of practice, and that one size fits all PD isn’t going to get the job done. However, he proposes that because we already have the knowledge of what we need, it’s up to us to seek out opportunities that will get us there. That may mean having to go out of the box and not rely on others to set up our learning opportunities for us.
The Nitty Gritty
Czyz speaks to experiences that most people in the education field have had if they’ve been there for any length of time. Many PD opportunities are overly general or don’t relate to a teacher’s specific area of practice. Think of art teachers having to go to a presentation on PE standards, or math teachers having to watch a webinar about a writing rubric. Add to that all the professional “development” that doesn’t develop us professionally and instead just satisfies requirements or mandates from other stakeholders and the professional development time we’re allotted starts to look a little something like this:
Czyz also argues that, in fairness, administrators who are tasked with defining and implementing PD are often pulled in many different directions and can’t be expected to know what each person needs better than they know this themselves. Administrators also have to make sure that required things get done and hold people accountable for doing them. I’ll be honest, I’ve often said that meetings can be emails when people read their email.
With all that said, and with there still being only 24 hours in the day, Czyz outlines many non-traditional opportunities for teachers to seek out information that can improve their practice. Collaborative meetings with teammates, Twitter chats, book clubs (such as this one!), nothing is off the table. If the goal is to develop professionally, anything can be professional development! He also gives suggestions for what to do if you go to a PD that misses the mark, and how you can re-channel that energy into making yourself a better teacher.
Takeaway for Tomorrow
One of the lessons of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic is that we don’t ever really know what professional development and support we will need, but once we’ve identified a need for ourselves we should advocate for ourselves in learning what we need to know. Many of us didn’t know what Zoom was in February 2020, or how to annotate during a hybrid lesson, or whatever the case may be, but we certainly know now! Teachers were also some of the biggest resources during this time, sharing knowledge and information at a furious with colleagues in the same building or halfway around the world.
Take opportunities to explore ways to develop professionally that don’t rely on offerings by your school division alone. Don’t be so focused on recertification points that you don’t refuel your professional curiosity. You may discover a new interest line that lends itself to leading PD for teachers in your division and contributing to everyone’s knowledge! I’ve often heard teachers say that the most meaningful sessions are ones where they can learn from each other.
While Czyz’s strategies probably won’t make you feel like this about staff meetings and professional development…
They can give you ideas for where to look to find more information about the things that ignite your passion and enthusiasm for teaching! Don’t miss out on The Four O’Clock Faculty!
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
I would love to hear what you thought of The Four O’Clock Faculty! What was the most meaningful takeaway for you about professional development? What non-traditional professional development opportunities would you recommend for others?
Thank you for joining in the first ever installment of the SpedSafari Book Club! Be on the lookout tomorrow, when I announce the book for June! Stay tuned and happy reading!
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