Activity: Develop a Proposal for School Wide Professional Development

Description: I served as the literacy support provider for our school for two years. This
role required me to sit with my administrator and the literacy coach and plan the
professional development plan for the upcoming school year. The plan for the 2012/13
school year is as follows:

Professional Development Plan: Four, 2-hour sessions
August Back to School PD Literacy Framework Overview
Unpacking the Literacy Common Core Standards
Session 1 (September 25, 2012) Guided Reading Reaching all of our readers
Session 2 (October 30, 2012) Focused Word Study Words Their Way
Session 3 (February 5, 2013) Writers Workshop Mini-Lessons
Session 4 (March 12, 2013) Writers Workshop
Conferring/Revising/Reflecting

What went well?
When looking at the professional development plan for this particular year we really
looked at our schools needs. We examined what the teachers were yearning for and we
gave it to them. While doing this we also made sure to follow the Countywide initiatives
so that we were making sure that we were meeting all of the Countys requirements. This
particular year ended with some of the best professional development reflections from
teachers. Many of the most disgruntled teachers actually wrote to tell me that they found
the professional development opportunities enjoyable. I believe that they were enjoyable
because we listened to the teachers and really tried to meet their needs and we made the
professional development opportunities interactive and relevant.

What did not?
I would have liked to have more professional development opportunities for our newer
teachers. I would also liked to have had differentiated professional development
opportunities. Although I think that there were definite advantages from having the
advanced teachers working with the struggling teachers, I think breakout sessions would
have been beneficial since they would have allowed for us to meet the needs of all
learners. I also think that having additional mini-sessions in between the two hour
sessions would have given additional support to those teachers who were struggling.

Given the chance to do it again, how would you do it better?
I would definitely use the literacy coach and other strong literacy teachers to lead
breakout sessions that would allow differentiation. I would also have the teachers
complete exit slips that would allow them to reflect on the professional development
since this would help steer future pds and it would also help decide whether incremental
mini-sessions were necessary.