Disrupting the Status Quo of Boring PD, Part 2
If you haven’t already read it, start back at Part 1 of this post.
The PD that Feels like a Party
A few years ago, I observed a virtual PD for teachers, facilitated by a virtual instructional coach that I was supporting. The facilitator, who I will call Shavon, started the session by welcoming the group with so much energy that it made me laugh out loud. Not in a mocking way, but in a way that made me think, “Oh, this could be fun!” She invited participants to chat in their responses to a thoughtful and engaging prompt while everyone was logging on to Zoom. Then she asked a few teachers to share out on video before starting the session.
She kept the introduction of herself and the PD content brief, but meaningful. After she provided a model and the most important points about the content she was delivering, she paused every few minutes to engage all participants through the use of chat, polling, emojis, Nearpod “Collaborate Boards” and games. She consistently asked a few people to elaborate on their responses by sharing out on video, allowing us to hear a diverse group of teacher voices in addition to Shavon’s. This cycle of sharing the most important skills and knowledge paired with an immediate opportunity to engage repeated several times in the first half hour.
Then, her coaching mindset really came out: she moved teachers into breakout groups to practice together. (Read more about practice in coaching.) She had designed a prompt specific to this group of teachers, giving them time to discuss with one another, collaborate on a shared document and then actually role-play through a response, immediately applying the new material that Shavon had just presented. In the groups that I saw, every teacher not only engaged actively but many frequently smiled and laughed.
In their feedback on the PD, teachers overwhelmingly said the session was helpful for their growth, the majority citing the breakout groups as the most effective part. Several teachers even left comments that it was the best PD they had ever attended.
I believe Shavon’s success with facilitating PD wasn’t because she planned like a facilitator of PD, but because she planned like a coach. And a virtual coach at that.
The high engagement in Shavon’s PD reminds me of Elena Agilar and Lori Cohen’s concept of creating PD that feels like a party: fun, celebratory, purposeful, communal. “We love the possibility embedded in thinking about PD as being like a party. This metaphor evokes an energy that is a sharp contrast to what characterizes most learning spaces, and so it serves as a useful counterpoint to work towards” (Aguilar & Cohen, 2022, p.17). Let’s use the lens of virtual coaches like Shavon to consider how we can make PD more like a party.
Reimagining PD with a Virtual Coaching Mindset
To disrupt the status quo of PD that is boring and ineffective in helping teachers get better at their jobs, virtual coaches innovate to connect, engage, and grow teachers. These six mindsets, mediated by technology, are central to making virtual coaching effective. And for making PD fun. In order to remain relevant with quickly changing technology, I will avoid naming specific tech tools and instead offer prompts for considering how to leverage technology for each mindset.
Tech to relate. To create a safe space where teachers can learn, virtual coaches seek to connect with teachers on a human level first. Neuroscience tells us that humans have to feel safe, connected and welcomed in order to learn. Zaretta Hammond writes, “Even if the environment isn’t hostile but simply unwelcoming, the brain doesn’t produce enough oxytocin and beings to experience anxiety” (2015, p.45, emphasis added). In the PD example above, Shavon invited participants to chat in a response from the very beginning, and then involved participant voices throughout by sharing out on camera. Applying the coaching mindset of relationships first, facilitators should seek to use technology that allows teachers to connect with one another and build a welcoming space.
How can we use technology to create a sense of joyful connection in PD?
Tech to differentiate. The success of virtual coaching is rooted in its ability to be highly individualized to the teacher. PD should similarly be tailored to the exact group of teachers in the room, offer teacher choice, and be differentiated. Paul Bambrick-Santoyo writes, “Great professional development starts with knowledge about what teachers need” (2012, p.132). Virtual coaches do this through video observation, teacher surveys, and student work analysis.
How can our use of technology help us create PD that is differentiated, meets teachers needs, and offers choice?
Tech to practice. The coaching mindset of practice– allowing teachers to try out their new skills in a safe and supportive space– is what really helps teachers grow quickly. For the majority of Shavon’s PD, teachers participated in breakout groups to collaboratively apply their learning in a shared document and then role-play together. Virtual coaches frequently utilize collaborative whiteboards, shared documents, and video or audio recordings to practice.
How can we use technology to prioritize teacher practice in PD?
Tech to engage. Because of the particular challenge of meaningful engagement in remote learning, virtual coaches have become masters of engaging tech tools and platforms to promote interaction. In the sample PD with Shavon, she used a whole range of tools in just a half an hour: polling, chat, Nearpod, and games. If teachers are not experiencing engaging technology in PD, it is much harder for them to effectively utilize this technology with students in the classroom.
What are the platforms and tools that we can use to engage teachers throughout PD in a variety of ways?
How can we stay current with options for engaging technology?
Tech to reflect. Facilitating teacher reflection is central to coaching, especially when paired with teacher practice. In virtual coaching, teachers videotape and watch themselves teach, record audio or video clips of students working in groups, and analyze student data collected through tools like Google Forms, Plicards, or curriculum materials. PD that uses technology to support targeted reflection is powerful for moving teachers forward.
What technology can we use to support meaningful teacher reflection over time?
Tech to play. Learning should be fun for teachers and students! That doesn’t always mean games, but play and levity should be central to PD. Virtual coaches make teacher learning fun through positive relationships, tracking and celebrating classroom data, and authentic learning projects. In Shavon’s PD, she made learning fun through her demeanor, games and polls, interesting prompts and questions, and collaboration in breakout groups.
How can we leverage technology to make PD feel more like a party?
When using new technology in PD, it’s important to practice with it first. Few things are more disengaging than a facilitator struggling with technology.
None of these mindsets are new or revolutionary. But the challenge is that we are not doing these things, at least not consistently.
The revolutionary part is to put this into action.
How do we do that? Take one step at a time. In community with other educators, commit to using a virtual coaching mindset to use technology for just one of the suggestions above to move the needle on your PD. Set up a system to make this commitment come alive and plan accountability to follow through. Commit aloud to your staff, “No more boring PD!”
Just like in the classroom, when learners are bored, learning shuts down. Christopher Emdin writes, “Where there is rigor mortis, there is no rigor. To be an effective educator who creates academically rigorous instruction, one’s teaching must be centered around the infusion of life and joy” (2021, p.30).
Taking a lesson from a virtual coaching mindset, let’s commit together: “No more boring PD!”