Teachers constantly juggle a number of different national, state, and district initiatives in today’s fast-paced and complex educational environment. Organizing professional development days that meet the varying needs of every teacher has become increasingly difficult as the pace of change far exceeds the number of days allowed for PD. To that end, Garnet Valley has adopted the acronym C.H.O.I.C.E., taken from Brad Currie (@bradmcurrie) and Jason Bretzmann’s (@jbretzmann) book, Personalized PD: Flipping Your Professional Development for its framework when designing professional learning days.
In keeping with our goals of offering and utilizing C.H.O.I.C.E. (Constant Progress, Honoring Professionals, Ongoing, Individualized, Collaborative, and Energizing) sessions, our district divides the professional learning calendar into three distinct models: Technology Boot Camp, Assigned Professional Development Days, and CHOICE Professional Development Days.
All sessions are driven and organized based on feedback from staff and analyzed by the district’s LEAP Committee, all utilizing face-to-face, synchronous, and asynchronous blended instruction. Our teachers choose their specific learning topics at their own pace with their preferred instructional model.…Read More