60 minutes of PD x 4 = tiring day -- what did I learn?

Every day is an opportunity to share a message that I deeply believe in – that teachers can re-think and re-organize our classrooms to build a community of readers and writers where every child feels like “I belong to the world of reading and writing.” Yesterday, I led professional development for kindergarten teachers; not my favorite format – I saw groups of 20-30 in one hour cycles, making it hard to “go deep” and requiring me to keep my energy high all day.

(My post on Wednesday was about a full-day, working with the same teachers; as a consultant, I need to be able to advocate for high quality, full-day, practice-based learning, but sometimes, I have to do these one hour conference-like days.)

I tried a few things to make yesterday more engaging. Here’s the list and some reflections, too.

• I did incorporate a smidge of read aloud into each session, and I love when I can lure teachers into a great book that no one knows, getting them excited about the power of read aloud. I used One Word from Sophia; the language is so rich and the design of the book reinforces the emotion of the story. It was a great choice AND

• I did give-aways. Copies of the book, and a 30 pack of pre-sharpened Ticonderoga pencils (I mean, it's writing workshop, and you need to write, right?!). This decision was a win!

• I incorporated in short professional reading. This effort was a mixed bag; how to control for folks finishing at different times; table discussions were sometimes flat; and I should have used a more direct, open-ended prompt: "Talk about your thinking. What does this reading make you think about?" Mixed bag, but my fault. I can make this better.

• We watched a video of a minilesson. My minilesson. By the fourth time, I was bored of hearing myself talk to kinders about How To books, but I think seeing teaching in action, with kids, is powerful stuff. The responses showed that folks did a lot of noticing, and several folks mentioned how helpful it was. However, I wish I'd set more of a purpose... I'm deciding between "Watch what I tell you to watch for, here's a template to fill-in" versus "Watch with an open heart and see what jumps out at you." I'm looking forward to reading evaluations so I can get a better sense of the feedback from teachers.

Professional learning shouldn't be "hit or miss" and as I head into the rest of the month (with lots of day-long professional learning dates on my calendar!), I'm going to tighten up just a bit in some places, and loosen up in a few others. Just like the classroom, there is art & science in my work, and just like a teacher, the weekends are for planning better lessons!