Of late, I have been thinking about how important professional development opportunities are for educators. Every school day I come in contact with fantastic educators. We do great things for students each day. Some of the great things I am aware of but there are many more I may never know. Within my own school district, I don't know if other teachers are using robotics or 3D printing. What engaging and valuable learning opportunities have they found for their students? It is difficult to find time to interact with local educators and especially educators from other areas. Therefore, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of paid professional development opportunities.
Paid professional development opportunities do not necessarily pay educators for their time spent at workshops, academies, or conferences. Rather paid professional development cover the costs to attend the various opportunities for learning new instructional strategies, content information, and networking with other educators. As an educator with three children in college, I do not have the funding to attend conferences or other professional development opportunities without assistance to cover the costs. I often look for ways to earn money outside of my contract days teaching workshops, writing curriculum, etc. However, there is still so much I want to learn and so many student opportunities to discover. In order to attend or present at conferences, I write grants to cover or assist in the costs associated with travel, registration, etc. Many grants prefer to support items that will be used directly by the students. While this is understandable, I think it is important to remember that the most important tool students have access to each school day is the teacher. The better the teacher, the better the results.
There are opportunities for educators to attend teacher academies such as
Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy,
Northrop Grumman Foundation Teachers Academy, and
Honeywell Educators at Space Academy. However, these opportunities are few and limited to a small fraction of all educators each year. Furthermore, applications for the paid opportunities, while worth the effort, can be fairly time consuming. Benefits for professional development extends beyond the immediate ideas taken back to the classroom. Professional development can make educators feel valued and rejuvenated. Meeting educators from around your state, country, or internationally, creates a vital network of support and on-going professional development. The network creates an impact for colleagues back at school and students within the classroom. Just visualize the ripple effect that can be created by teachers attending professional development.
There are so many fantastic educational conferences, workshops, and academies available. It would be great to make them more accessible for interested educators. Funding should not be the factor that prohibits educators from achieving their professional goals and growing their professional aptitudes. There are so many fantastic educators. We need to provide them a way to continue to grow and share their strengths with others. My network continues to grow and I continue to improve my instructional practices. I share what I can with others. In fact, I love talking about my classroom. However, I will never be done improving my practice. I will continue to seek opportunities that will make me a better teacher so my students can be better. I simply wish there was more support and funding to make the process easier for all educators.
