Why we do PD
I’ve been grading papers for my school library management class. Following their attendance at the Michigan Association for Media in Education’s Winter Leadership Institute, they were asked to complete two tasks:
- A private, personal reflection on the day, with me as the only audience.
- A public proposal to the MAME Board recommending what next year’s focus should be, based on our course readings, this year’s speakers, and observed needs.
As so often happens with my graduate students, grading is a joy, because they have so many observations and thoughts that percolate in my brain.
I found myself writing something in the margin of one student’s paper that I realized I had not articulated but that was actually the most important part of discussing the school librarian’s role in professional development: WHY we do PD. So here goes:
April 6th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Hello Kristin,
That’s a great metaphor and I think is really true for any form of development too. If you’re not getting something out of it that’s going to change how you see the world and try to affect it than its time to rethink.
Kate