Imagine you are presenting to a room full of colleagues,
experts in their own right, on content that matters deeply to all of you. As the time quickly runs out, an
individual raises her hand and asks an unexpected question – one you didn’t
anticipate despite hours of planning. In that moment, you feel just as
unprepared as you might have in the classroom, when a student proposes a
strategy in the last two minutes of class that you have never considered
before. Not only is it new, it also stretches the bounds of your understanding
of the content you have been presenting. It is the kind of question that will
stick with you for a while, that you will later wonder what a better answer could
have been.
This exact thing happened to me on Friday at the NCTM annual conference. I was a few minutes
from concluding a session on ChangingTeacher Practices with a
group of math leaders from all over the world when a single hand raises.
She asks, “But what happens when you are mandated to provide professional
development as ‘sit-and-get’ even when you know it doesn’t make sense to do
so?”
I hadn’t thought of that question.
Ever.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t spent hours preparing for all the
aspects of our learning experience together, and even anticipated questions
that would arise. I had. But I hadn’t considered such a situation existed in
our field. Why would educational
leaders mandate any one format of professional development for teachers regardless
of the intended learning, and especially one that has been shown to have such
low effectiveness?
And so I did what teachers do every day when faced with a
similar situation with their students– I took a stab at a response, crafting a
statement that draws more on the big picture than the specifics I had been
asked. I answered emotionally, and only
have recollection of my words because of the evidence on twitter.
Hours later I was still thinking about this question. Days later, I still am rethinking my response.
So I’m asking for help… Because that’s what #MTBoS –ers do
every day – we take our questions to a digital space and hope there
are others who can help us think more about it.
What would you say to this participant? What would you say
to the leaders above her making this particular mandate?
In all the hours this question has stuck with me, I’ve made
some movement on my thinking. But I need more help. Here are the two questions that are driving my current wonderings:
- When is it appropriate to use ‘sit-n-get’ (also known as direct instruction) with teachers as a form for professional development?
- What forms of professional development work best in which situations, with which content, or with particular groups of people?
What are your thoughts? Feel free to leave comments here or on twitter. Looking forward to learning from you.
