Facilitator Retreat
Brainstorm
July 27, 2004
How can we modify one-day workshops to meet the professional development
needs of teachers, as described in the No Child Left Behind Act?
Suggestions include:
· Aim for creating an end product (i.e. lesson plan)
· Provide time for reflection: how can teachers implement new ideas and knowledge in the classroom?
· Offer 2-day workshops (i.e. 3 hours after school) – One facilitator has found that this results in more local participation, better attendance, a time to practice activities between sessions, and debriefing time during the second session to reflect.
· Spend time during workshops identifying what activities will work in their classroom and how it would tie into their curriculum.
· Follow-up with participants afterward, asking what activities they’ve implemented and how the new pieces went.
· Use the teacher’s curriculum within the workshop to help ground the activities in their own school.
· Send a pre-survey to determine participant goals for the workshop, grades and subjects each participant teaches, etc. This allows facilitators to tailor the workshop to participant needs.
· Scope out the site ahead of time to make the workshop as locally focused as possible.
· Allow planning time for teams.
· Rather than role-play activities, have a discussion and practice session to allow participants to bounce ideas off one another and learn from each other.