eSchool News | PD page 1

How to stave off teacher burnout with PD

Survey after survey confirms teachers feel stressed and burned out. Nearly 75 percent of teachers experience frequent job-related stress, compared to just a third of working adults. More than half of teachers have considered leaving the profession earlier than originally planned.

Exhausted and frustrated teachers face a growing list of adversities, including:

Insufficient funding
Overwhelming administrative work
Demanding parents
Hostile communities

Dire staffing shortages have added to an unprecedented level of strain. When educators pick up the slack from unfilled positions, their work obligations increase. But their plates merely grow more full — nothing is ever removed. Districts can’t afford to lose more teachers and must take steps to assist them.…Read More

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3 ways to bring teacher PD into the 21st century

When I started teaching in the early 90s, I was an eager and very green third grade teacher ready to change the world, one class at a time. My colleagues and I worked hard to build a learning community that met the needs of our students, no matter their circumstances or the resources at our disposal (or lack thereof).

Since then, I have served in various roles in public education and the private sector and have witnessed innovations in curriculum, instructional design, classroom design, and more. But amid all this change, one area has remained relatively static in public education. When it comes to training and developing teachers, we have been letting opportunity to leverage technology pass us by. Instead of a place to break new ground and match the demands of the modern classroom, professional development programs remain a pain point for teachers.

More than half of teachers have expressed wanting to leave the profession, with many citing a lack of quality development and support as a contributing factor. Teacher PD feels obligatory, generic, time-consuming, and for many, out of reach.…Read More

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What’s missing from your professional development?

The importance of professional development in education cannot be overstated. In fact, according to research, when teachers receive well-designed professional development, an average of 49 hours spread over six to 12 months, they can increase student achievement by as much as 21 percentile points.

Yet, professional development is often overlooked and considered an afterthought—especially with pressing concerns around students’ mental health and well-being, gaps in reading and math skills, and so much more. The COVID-19 pandemic shook up professional development, encouraging schools and districts to rethink what this process looks like and how to best set their educators up for success and, in turn, their students.

At Waxahachie ISD in Texas, we’ve implemented professional development through the use of video, and lean on self-reflection and personalization that is naturally part of the video process to transform how our educators learn, collaborate and grow.…Read More

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It’s not about the tech, but about how you use it

In this episode of Innovations in Education, hosted by Kevin Hogan:

3 collaborative strategies to bolster cybersecurity
3 ways to highlight productive urgency while avoiding teacher burnout
Heroes at work: How San Diego USD made PD a pandemic priority

AI’s pivotal role in authentic PD

Many people envision artificial intelligence’s (AI) role in education with a sci-fi twist, but in reality, AI is already embedded in promising new tools that address student learning, real-time feedback, and continuous professional development (PD).

AI-powered learning tools can offer students immediate feedback and a customized learning experience. And when used in PD, time-strapped educators can better reflect on their instructional practices and target areas for improvement.

Edthena, a provider of video-powered PD tools, is harnessing AI in its new AI Coach platform. The solution helps schools and districts give teachers access to supportive coaching to improve teaching effectiveness. AI Coach uses artificial intelligence to guide teachers through coaching cycles aligned to common growth areas.…Read More

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Is your PD missing this key element?

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Dynamic and Engaging Literacy Experiences

To become lifelong readers and learners, young students need dynamic and engaging literacy experiences. Learn what such experiences are, how they impact reading development, and how to bring them into your classrooms. Download the white paper now.

15 TEACHER-TESTED TECHNOLOGY IDEAS TO POWER STUDENTS’ CREATIVE POTENTIAL

FOR INDIVIDUALS, SMALL GROUPS & LARGE GROUPS

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE RESOURCE NOW

Use these proven technology-led activities to help children express themselves, engage with others and to connect with learning, in both remote and classroom-based environments.…Read More

Why Diversity Matters in School Library Collections— And How to Achieve It

How we perceive the world—and, just as importantly, how we see ourselves—is a function of the stories we experience in books and other media. Yet, while the United States has become more culturally and ethnically diverse, children’s books largely haven’t kept pace.

That’s now beginning to change. Educators are consciously seeking to diversify their classroom library collections, and publishers are amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups in the children’s books they produce. This white paper examines why these efforts are important—and it looks at how educators and other K-12 leaders can make a difference.

Benchmarking Toolkit for 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated an extant trend toward digitized communications, and highlighted the weaknesses in many schools’ and districts’ communication plans. School communication is currently strong in some areas, notably general parental engagement and support, but it has major weaknesses. These include school-teacher and school-student communication in schools, as well as communication with a hard-to-reach quartile of parents. Schools must address these and transfer the lessons of the coronavirus pandemic to their communication plans with schools back to in-person teaching.