Anyone who has worked in education has come across the scourge of professional development. What sounds intuitive- being a lifelong learner- becomes a tedium that is boring, ineffective, and even stressful.
I’m not here to tell you to like professional development and I am certainly not going to tell you to abstain for continuing to learn.
Lifelong learning requires ownership, and to fully own the concept you must take responsibility for learning.
This seems self-evident- of course I need to be responsible for my learning, duh?!- but when you rely on professional development as your vehicle for lifelong learning you are putting the responsibility for learning in the hands of PD providers, or worse, your administrators.
Take responsibility:
- read more about a topic that you have to teach
- research a teaching method that you have heard about
- challenge yourself outside of work- take on a new exercise program, take a course outside of education, learn a new way of cooking, or take up a sport
- read some classics- maybe not Shakespeare if the language is not totally accessible, but dive into something you never thought you’d read before.
- begin journaling or writing-whether about your practice as an educator or about your life. If you want to understand the world, then read. If you want to understand yourself, then write.
Education is a calling, and that calling requires you to continue to sharpen your skills. A well-rounded educator is a powerful educator. Take responsibility for your lifelong learning.
