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Professional Development Tips

As I have begun to give Professional Development Workshops, I have found some tools that are useful to me. This page has been created for others to use as they teach students, teachers, or parents.

Useful websites:
*Tapped In: http://tappedin.org/tappedin/
All the events that take place on this site are intended as K-20 teacher professional development opportunities. Any member (free) can also create their own group room where they can provide online professional development. There is also a K-12 Student Campus where teachers can bring their classes to engage in real time text chat, threaded discussion boards, store files and
documents, and collaborate with other classrooms. The calendar includes several Tips and Tricks events which are real time text chat tours of the main features of Tapped In.

Make your teachers a part of the plan. Be sure to include a cross-section of the staff. Let them be involved in the learning process, beyond the philosophy. Let them feel ownership of some of the ideas that the school will choose to implement. Instead of telling teachers what to do, let them explore, examine, investigate, evaluate, and be a part of the inititiatives. Ensure that the plan does not outstrip your/their ability to deliver. It is frustrating to wait for someone else (purchasing, vendors, tech support, etc) to come through with their part of the plan. Provide leadership, information, permission to attend conferences, and sufficient tech support.

PDQ (Professional Development QuickTips): http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22100507
" Your district just upgraded to new programs but some of the teachers are attached to their old software and are not going to like to let go."

TEN TIPS FOR MORE PRODUCTIVE TRAINING MEETINGS
By Donald Kirkpatrick ( dleekirk1@aol.com ), for TDF e-Net
How productive are your training meetings? In my 40 years of conducting meetings for training professionals and for all levels of management, I have talked to many who tell me how upset they are about the time they waste in meetings.
This article is designed especially for training meetings, but it applies to all kinds of meetings. Why are these tips important? Because trainers should not only set an example in their own meetings, they should also teach courses for managers who conduct them. The following 10-question quiz is designed to help you accomplish both objectives.
QUESTIONS:
1. All training meetings should start and end on time.
__ Agree __ Disagree
2. There is a distinct difference between a "trainer" and a "facilitator."
__ Agree __ Disagree
3. Training meetings should meet the needs and desires of both the participants and their bosses.
__ Agree __ Disagree
4. There is a clear distinction between an "agenda" and "objectives."
__ Agree __ Disagree
5. The leaders of meetings should be carefully selected.
__ Agree __ Disagree
6. There should be a flip chart at all types of meetings.
__ Agree __ Disagree
7. Participation is necessary to have an effective training meeting.
__ Agree __ Disagree
8. A question-and-answer period is a good way to end a meeting.
__ Agree __ Disagree
9. Training meetings should be PIE.
__ Agree __ Disagree
10. All training meetings should be enjoyable.
__ Agree __ Disagree
ANSWERS:
1. AGREE. Nearly everyone will agree with this statement, but will everyone actually do it? If, from now on, you are going to start meetings exactly on time, there are two things you must do. First, you must make it clear to everyone that you are going to do it. Second, you must follow through and DO it. The same goes for ending meetings on time.
2. AGREE. I hate to be called a facilitator when I teach. A facilitator does not provide any information. He facilitates discussion among participants. A trainer, on the other hand, presents information and usually includes a participatory element as part of the instruction.
3. AGREE. Not only should training meetings meet the needs of both participants and their bosses, they should also be scheduled at a convenient time for all. Otherwise, you run the risk of creating negative attitudes toward your training.
4. AGREE. An agenda is a list of topics to be covered and sometimes includes a time frame for each topic. Objectives are what you want to accomplish.
5. AGREE. This is an obvious agree, but what criteria do you use to select meeting leaders? Here are four that I recommend:
o A desire to teach/train.
o A thorough knowledge of the subject or skills to be taught.
o The U.S. Coast Guard has a song called "Semper Paratus." You probably recognize it as "always prepared." Enough said.
o An effective communicator. This includes not only the ability to present information effectively, but also the ability to serve as an effective facilitator.
6. AGREE. I bet I caught you on this one. It simply states that a flip chart should be at all meetings; it doesn't say that it should be used at all meetings. One of my pet peeves is that many times, people sit around a table at meetings with a lot of papers and no flip chart. Remember, the flip chart is not only
there to list the agenda and objectives and illustrate points, its purpose is also to maintain interest and record comments or suggestions from participants. This holds true even if you rely on PowerPoint slides and distribute handouts to participants. Even in these instances, flip charts can be used to maximize the effectiveness of a meeting.
7. DISAGREE. Some meetings can be very effective through presentation alone. In these instances, of course, the speaker should be a spellbinder and/or use great visual aids.
8. DISAGREE. Did I catch you again? A Q&A period is a bad way to end a meeting. Another of my pet peeves, in fact, is to hear the statement, "We have time for just one more question!" First of all, you don't know how long the question will be. Second, there is a good chance that the question is unique and does not relate to the other participants.
A meeting should end on a positive note stating such things as the purpose of the meeting, what was accomplished and what participants will do next. With some structure in place, Q&A periods can provide benefits to meeting participants. If you do decide to hold a Q&A period, be sure that a) everyone hears the question; b) other participants are interested in it and in your answer (otherwise, tell the person that you'll discuss it with him or her after the meeting); and c) that the question is related to the topic under discussion.
9. AGREE. We finally got to my favorite question. I was once scheduled to conduct a one-day workshop on managing change for a division of Dana Corp. The coordinator called me and asked,
"Are you going to use the SMART approach?" I had no idea what it was, so I didn't dare say "yes" or "no." After a pause, I swallowed my pride and asked for a definition. So he described it to me. (I would tell you what it stands for, but as a professional trainer, you probably already know!) After a short pause, I said, "I will use the PIE approach," which I had just made up. This time, there was silence at the other end of the line, so I explained it to him. The "p" in PIE stands for "practical." When we plan a meeting, we should start with the question, "What knowledge, skills and attitudes do the participants need to improve their performance?" The "i" stands for "interesting." Thus, we should
ask ourselves, "How can we make the training meeting interesting so that we maintain the attention and interest of the participants?" The "e" stands for "enjoyable." Or, "How can we conduct the meeting in a way that participants will enjoy and will make them want more?"
10. AGREE. If you know anything about my four levels for evaluating training programs, you probably marked "agree" -- perhaps with some reservations. There are a number of ways to
evaluate program reaction as well as increase in knowledge, change in attitudes and improvement in skills. The most common way is to get reaction from participants. Just by asking for it tells participants that you are learner-oriented and want feedback. Obviously, their reactions and suggested changes can help make future training meetings more productive. Another way to evaluate is to sit down after the meeting and ask yourself, "How could I have made the meeting more productive?" A third way is to have an observer sit in the back of the room and take notes -- good or bad -- about the
meeting. These are three choices for evaluating. Perhaps you will want to use two, or even all three. But whatever you do, evaluate.
HOW DO YOU MEASURE UP?
If you scored an eight or higher, congratulations! You are probably already conducting productive meetings! If you scored fewer points, it may be time to take a hard look at yourself and the types of meetings you conduct.
I hope that this quiz has challenged you and given you suggestions for making your meetings more productive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author and consultant Donald L. Kirkpatrick is a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He also runs a consulting company called Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick & Associates. (http://www.donaldkirkpatrick.com).

L -Limit concepts... Present only one or two concepts at a time. (A hard lesson I've had to learn is that what seems like one or two concepts to me does not always seem like one or two concepts to learners.)
A-Avoid Jargon (It's a big turnoff !)... If you want to see their eyeballs roll back into their head, just start throwing around "RAM, ROM, graphical interface," etc.
U-Useful... Show new users what the technology can do for them that would be immediate and useful. (Sure, go ahead and show them how to bid on Ebay.)
G-Grin... goof off, and generally try to make training fun.
H-Hands-on... Give immediate hands-on experience. (Don't listen to them when they say, "Just show us.")
T-Teamwork... Have teachers pair up when introducing new concepts. It saves a lot of time and frustration!
E-Exploration... Allow time to explore. (District administrators hate the idea of paying teachers for a lot of this, so you can always call it something else..."Independent project", or "Multimedia exploration"...)
R- Relax... Use a calm, down-to-earth manner. (You know how a dog senses fear? well...)
Ideas from Pam Wenger, Technology Coordinator, Northern York School District, Dillsburg, PA

Epson Presenters Online: http://www.presentersonline.com/

MyCompass: http://asset.asu.iassessment.org/ia/render.UserLayoutRootNode.uP?uP_root=ro
ot&uP_sparam=activeTab&activeTab=1
MyCompass is an online self-assessment, created by iAssessment and used throughout the state of AZ, to determine the strengths and needs of educators in the area of technology and technology integration. The MyCompass instrument can serve as a pre-post test, can recommend resources tied to the rubrics/assessment items, and offer aggregated data for administrators to use for grant applications and school improvement goals.
California also uses iAssessment: http://ctap2w2.iassessment.org/ia/render.userLayoutRootNode.uP

"Why Trainers Get Ulcers and Zebras Don't: Stress and Coping in the Workplace"
On March 2, 2004, neuroscientist and author Robert Sapolsky presented a keynote at the annual Training Conference and Expo in Atlanta, GA.
TDF e-Net spoke with Sapolsky about his research and how it relates to the corporate world:
TDF E-NET: Why DON'T zebras get ulcers?
SAPOLSKY: Because they worry about the lion that is chasing them at that moment or, if they're really intellectually inclined, the lion who might be about that bush and is going to leap out in a moment. They don't worry about what they should have done about the lion that almost got them last year; they don't worry about the sight of a lion leaping on them, which, someday, is going to be the final thing they see; they don't worry about what the purpose of life is if there can be lions out there trying to eat them. They're not smart enough to invent the sort of chronic psychological stressors that we specialize in.
TDF E-NET: What kinds of stress are most prevalent within the corporate sphere and what are the typical sources of those stressors?
SAPOLSKY: A key to making sense of human stress-related disease is the fact that our stressors are overwhelmingly psychological and social, rather than physical: Few of us are likely to ever get slashed by someone's canines in a tense boardroom meeting. Such psychological stress is built around a lack of control and predictability, lack of outlets for frustration, a perception of things worsening, and lack of social support. Some of these factors are intrinsic to the hierarchical corporate world, especially the middle-management world of too much responsibility and too little control. And all of these factors
are found, big time, in an abusive corporate setting.
TDF E-NET: Aside from health concerns, how does stress negatively impact performance at work?
SAPOLSKY: I'd say in a number of broad ways:
o Stress impairs memory, specifically by disrupting the function of neurons in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. (To orient, that's the same part of the brain that is damaged in Alzheimer's disease.)
o Stress impairs judgment, impulse control and the capacity for gratification postponement. This is accomplished by impairing the part of the brain called the frontal cortex, which is central to those functions.
o Stress makes you perseverate on the coping style that you have. Suppose something miserably stressful is going on. You try your usual coping trick and it doesn't work. A solution might be to try some completely different coping approach. And what stress tends to do is to bias you to, instead, use that same old coping approach that just failed, but this time to do it twice as much, or a zillion times as much.
TDF E-NET: How do you recommend that trainers and other professionals deal with stress in the workplace so that their reactions to stress are more productive?
SAPOLSKY: Here are a few ways to make stressors less stressful:
o Don't try to control the uncontrollable. A sense of control can be quite stress-reducing, but not when it concerns something truly awful and uncontrollable -- that's just setting you up for feeling at fault.
o In the face of a major, seemingly insurmountable stressor, the old cliché about "one step at a time" really can work wonders.
o Typically, stress reduction for a young person is built around trying to change the stressor. Typically, stress reduction for an aged individual is built around trying to accommodate the stressor.
Once the stressor has occurred, here are some coping and stress-management techniques:
o Don't save your stress management for the weekend, or for the fifteen seconds when you're on hold on the phone. If it's going to work, you need to set time aside on an almost daily basis.
o Just because a stress-management technique works for a friend, it won't necessarily work for you. One person's stress reducer is the next person's stressor. Take advice, accept endorsements, but figure out what works for you.
o Don't trust anyone who claims that his or her brand of stress management has been scientifically proven to work better than the others. It's true that various interventions -- meditation, prayer, aerobic exercise, hobbies, relaxation therapy -- can blunt some of the adverse effects of stress on the body. But none demonstrably works the best.
o Don't avoid getting ulcers by giving them to others. Unfortunately, an effective way of reducing stress is to take it out on someone else. Make your stress reduction benign for those around you.
o If you feel like you're drowning in your own stressors and problems, find a way to help someone else.
o Probably the greatest coping outlet there is consists of having someone's shoulder to cry on. For social primates such as us, isolation is an aching stressor and a major risk factor for our health.

This site began in March 1998 and was created by Janet Luch. It was last updated on March 11, 2006
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