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Thankful November Three: Professional Development


Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to attend some amazing professional development courses.  

In late October, I signed up for an all-day Saturday conference.  To be honest, my primary motivators were:

1) It was close.  It's hard to say no to something that is literally five minutes from your doorstep.

2) My husband was out golfing anyway.

3) It was paid.  I have very few opportunities within the school district to make extra money.  With the holidays coming and a growing desire to redo our master bathroom floors, I'll take almost any opportunity I can get.

4) It was on a topic I found appealing: bringing joy and the arts into the classroom.  

5) Several of my colleagues were going, so I knew other people.  (Yes, not being in a room with strangers is a concern.)


The timing wasn't the best because the night before was my school's carnival and haunted house. I was definitely tired, but caffeine helps (as does the five minute drive).

Our keynote speaker was engaging and we got a copy of his book:

I'm super appreciative of free things.  I also am really enjoying reading it (which isn't always the case with some teacher books).  It has a lot of space to reflect upon my own teaching and is meant to be read at a slow pace (1-2 chapters per week) over the course of a school year (or season as the author calls them).  The focus is on finding joys and empowering others to do the same (or at least that's the focus of the first few chapters).

After the keynote, we had 4 sessions and a wide range of topics to pick from.  I enjoy PD sessions that offer this choice and freedom.

The first session I went to focused on math fact fluency and how to take the pressure of off kids when working on the memorization of math facts.  I was also super excited to see a former colleague and friend as one of the instructors.  

We snagged this freebie:

Which is full of all sorts of math games.  I haven't started using it yet but will!  (I just haven't found the time to start making the card stock copies or gathering the supplies.)

I was fortunate enough to get into the highly coveted reading one before lunch, but it was a bit of a let down only because there was no new information.  All of the strategies that were discussed I'd previously learned in other professional development courses and was already using in my classroom.  I did snag a free book out of the training.

After a lunch break, I joined some fellow teachers from my school to attend a counseling-based session that focused on helping kids cope with anxiety.  The instructor modeled some interesting lessons and we walked away with another freebie.

The fourth session was by far my least favorite.

Overall, it was a successful day, I was home by 4 pm, learned some new strategies, received several new books, and was paid for attending.

These are the types of professional developments that I appreciate.