What Makes for Good Summer Professional Development?

Corinne Dedini

As teachers, we all have our own flavor of innovation, and we leave for summer with ideas (or, if you’re like me, a stack of haphazard notes in a drawer) to revamp our courses for next year.  Sometimes there are new tools we’ve heard about that we want to test out, and sometimes we have a new course to design. Whatever the motivator, teachers are lifelong learners and we seek to grow professionally.  I’ve noticed two essential ingredients that are necessary for this growth. First, teachers need time and space for expansive reflection. Second, they need a structure to guide the process of designing for a reimagined learning experience. Here’s how we’ve taken these challenges on.
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Expansive Reflection
Meredith Mikell, One Schoolhouse Astronomy and Marine Science teacher, has to refuel each summer because, in her words, she teaches “intellectual recklessness.” Concerned that so many good science students have a fixed mindset, Meredith spends her summers pursuing her own passions - including attending the annual Star Trek convention! - so that she can shift the learning paradigm for her students.  By designing activities that allow for creative application, Meredith’s projects allow students to “discover” basic science principles. For example, the null hypothesis is a notoriously tedious topic to teach because it is so abstract. But Meredith’s Astronomy students uncover its true meaning when they are asked to determine whether their teacher is actually an alien.  Far from the rote experimental design question, this crazy origin story inquiry pushes students to the brink of what science can answer, and therein lies the lesson.  (Her home planet is earth, in case you are wondering). If Meredith didn’t take her own growth and rejuvenation seriously, she could never conceive of the wild ideas that promote brave discovery in her classes.  Even if you have to leave this galaxy to clear your mind, make this part of your professional growth; protect it like your students’ learning depends on it--because it does.
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Structure to Guide Design
Given the frenetic pace of the school year, summer is the only time when teachers have time to think.  This is why we believe that the best formula for teacher growth is summer planning. Here’s an outline of what transformative summer professional development might look like:  

1. Identify the challenge:  You can make a pedagogical change (mastery-based portfolios, personalized pathways, project-based learning) or build something new (a new course, an interdisciplinary program with a colleague).
2. Gather resources:  Find an online class; do your own research; meet with an expert.  But don’t overdo it. Nothing is more paralyzing that too much information.  Find a few good articles, watch a video, and then get on with it.
3. Measure what you value: Identify what you value most and determine what artifacts your students will produce that will demonstrate mastery.  Even if traditional testing is part of your normal routine, deciding on evidence of mastery will help you design more expansive lessons because the outcomes will be authentic evidence of learning.  
4. Template it out:  Mock up a sample lesson and spend time making decisions about the learning flow.  Consider order of and time spent on different activities. Identify the joints - places where students will need to be persistent, where they will get feedback, where they can change direction.  
5. Seek accountability:  Meet with a colleague or ask your own kids what they think.  Talking through your plans will help you process the choices that you’re making and work through points of friction.  Make a note on your calendar to return to your accountability partner in the middle of the school year.
6. Draft it up:  Keeping the value outcome in your mind’s eye, sketch out the change.  Find places to get feedback from students when you try it out, and make sure that you have at least three chances to implement and iterate throughout the year.  The more you can design now while leaving space for adjustment in the moment, the more likely you are to be able to leverage this summer’s work into transformative change next year.  

A good summer refreshes you for the upcoming year by refueling your own body and mind, and by laying the foundation to try new things in your courses. I think about the energy teachers need and use like a reservoir, and this process fills it back up. When teachers return to school in the fall, they’re full, eager and ready to lead their students. Throughout the year, they use that water as they tend their classes. With great summer PD, they have the resources they need at hand, and don’t have to drain their reservoir dry as the year progresses.  The work teachers can do over the summer energizes and helps them dive deep, and you can help make it happen.

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​Improve your practice this summer and register for upcoming professional development at One Schoolhouse - courses start July 15, 2019.
Beyond
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Introduction to Independent Schools
Mastery Practice in Teaching Boys
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