271 staff members called in sick on March 17, missing a district-wide professional development day. Altogether, attendance at both this year’s PD days hovered around 60%.
For already busy teachers, PD days can be time-consuming and unhelpful. “The majority of the offerings are not very germane to my discipline of social science,” history teacher Jason Knowles said.
At an upcoming professional development week, lessons include “Practical AI for Teachers: Designing Lessons That Open Doors for All Learners,” “Rewriting Writing Instruction: How AI Boosts Engagement, Timely Feedback, and Support for All Learners,” and “Teaching with Joy: Reigniting Purpose, Passion, and Play in the Classroom.” Sessions are usually two and a half hours of presentations and activities like small-group discussions and reflections. Since they’re made for teachers of varying experience levels and subject areas, there’s a limit to how specific, and therefore applicable, sessions can be.
“The PD sessions that are not well-attended are more esoteric. There’s a lot of teaching philosophy, but not a lot that’s gonna translate immediately into the classroom the next day,” Digital Filmmaking teacher John Giambruno said. “They’ll do ‘how to develop a more equitable practice,’ and that’s a very long-term, introspective session that can’t happen in two hours.”
Professional development itself, though well-intended, is difficult to execute. Education research is often flawed and hard to control. “Quite frankly, a lot of the ideas that they use that they think are related to good teaching are based on very dubious research. And they’re pretty boring,” Knowles said.
Giambruno regularly leads PD sessions, most often about using technology in the classroom. “Mine are usually well-attended. I always try to keep my presentations very teacher-centric and for teachers to walk away with something they can use in class the next day,” he said. “I think that’s why people choose me—and I’m also doing cool stuff like video or useful stuff like Canvas.”
“When it’s teachers teaching teachers, I think that’s the best scenario,” Giambruno added. Most sessions are led by outside consultants or District staff. The District’s Educational Services department, which creates the programming for PD days, is primarily composed of former educators.
For many teachers, however, the time and effort necessary to create a presentation are unrealistic. “Most presentations will take two to four hours to make,” Giambruno said. “I always think it’s going to take an hour, but then I’m always preparing a lot for it and trying to find good examples.” Teachers are paid up to four hours overtime for their work, but it can take longer, and many find it’s not worth skipping grading or lesson planning.
These issues make PD days feel like a waste of valuable time for teachers. “I’ll stay at home and either grade or work on my lesson plans for the week,” Knowles said.
Still, staff are eager to attend sessions they find useful. “I go to ones that have very specific tactics that a teacher can use to increase student engagement, and also ones that give us time to develop a lesson based on the strategy that they’re teaching about. They don’t always do that,” Knowles said.
“I do feel like we need to grow and reflect as educators. I think to not do that every once in a while is not to be a good educator. And I think sometimes it’s not done well,” Giambruno said. “I think we need PDs, but I think sometimes the PDs offered are not the way a teacher wants to grow and reflect.”
