Thursday, December 5, 2013

The BEST PD (aside from EDCAMP)

Well it's been a while. This time of year is busy with deadlines, end of semester assessments, and of course the Holidays.

We recently had a district PLC Day. The morning was devoted to some district things and the afternoon  agendas varied by school while still keeping a focus on district initiatives. One thing that our staff did was something that our principal created and called an "Instructional Potluck." Each staff member was responsible for bringing one strategy that they use or had used in their own classroom. The only rule is that it couldn't be a Pinterest or TeachersPayTeachers party. It could come from those resources BUT it had to be something that we all HAD tried in OUR classrooms.

This was the best PD session I have ever been apart of (aside from Edcamp ha!).  So often we are so busy in our own classroom worlds that we don't get to "step" into others. This gave us a chance to see all of the neat ideas and strategies that other teachers across all grade levels are using with students. Not to mention that we walked away with about 20+ resources from EACH OTHER. There was such a variety of strategies shared and it was awesome to see people want to visit each other's classroom as a result.

I am a firm believer that "WE" are our best resource. No one out there has all the answers like our neighbors that teach next door to us.

I would highly suggest trying an Instructional Potluck with your staff!