Good morning all,

The last few weeks leading up to Friday’s conference at Princeton (shown here before we got underway) were incredibly hectic but energizing and inspiring at the same time. It was a great experience and an honor to present; everything about the event was world-class. The logistics and support were terrific. So was the lineup of speakers/moderators including many of my friends (Vicki Davis, Kathy Schrock, Nancy Willard, Barry Joseph, Rob Mancabelli, Jenny Hunsinger). I also got to see and meet several old and new friends like Ann Oro, Christy Tvarok, Robin Ellis (who was instrumental in setting up dinner on Thursday night), Sandy O’Neill from the NJDOE, Pat Sine, and a few others I’m probably missing. Thank you all for making the experience so great!

The conference was very beneficial from a professional development standpoint, as it’s not often I get to see accomplished practitioners talk about what’s happening in their classrooms AS WELL AS bonafide academics presenting the results of research directly related to our field. The whole conference was great but I found the research particularly fascinating. I even had lunch with John Black from Columbia, whom I hope to connect with Peggy Sheehy shortly. The combination of her projects and his research team should be truly magical!

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about professional development, particularly as I prepare for one of my upcoming presentations at The Southern Regional ETTC’s 8th Annual From My Classroom to Yours Conference. What makes professional development effective?

Fortunately, my friend and colleague Sylvia Martinez at GenerationYES has been blogging about this subject heavily of late, providing resource after resource and asking many great questions. Diigo user Isabelle Jones shared this great article on measuring ROI on professional development programs which seeks to define the extent to which professional development actually makes a difference in an organization. I love the simplicity of the model and the data to be collected, it’s focus on measurable goals, the reliance on feedback and surveys, and the section dealing with the cost of not training. Truly great stuff.

That said, my presentation on May 14th about Personal Learning Environments is going to focus primarily on how we as individuals can take personal responsibility for our own professional development. To some extent, this is a given, as we all (more or less) continually read, reflect, discuss approaches with peers, try new things in our classrooms. Who has time for PD? We all do. It’s a matter of deciding what’s important. When you’re personally vested in the process, somehow, it gets done!

I’ll close with this thought about priorities. At the end of the conference on Friday, Cecilia Rouse, Princeton’s Director, Industrial Relations Section and Education Research Section provided a few brief closing remarks. She began with an apology, explaining that she had missed most of the conference – her department’s signature annual event – due to an event at her daughter’s school. How fitting, I thought to myself, that the person responsible for all we had just experienced was prepared to miss most of it to be with her own child for a school function. “The Future of Children,” indeed! Talk about having one’s priorities straight. These people talk the talk AND walk the walk!

-kj-

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