Professional development day, the bane of teachers and the best day ever for students. I remember being back in middle school during the school year. Waking up on a Monday morning, dreading that day of school and the four more to come, just to realize it was a teacher development day and I could go back to bed.
For most teachers, though, these days are the opposite of relieving. Professional development day typically forces educators through boring meeting after boring meeting. Being made to hear piles of information about curriculum and teaching practices that goes in one ear and out the other. It doesn’t have to be that way though.
The failure of worthwhile professional learning programs isn’t in the idea, it’s in the execution. Staff days can be engaging, enlightening, and extremely beneficial, but they have to be done right. From the several I have worked and even more I’ve seen, there seems to be three main flaws that make these days, for the most part, useless. These meetings seem to never be interactive, engaging the group of teachers and making them feel like they’re learning. They never utilize storytelling. And worst of all, they rarely focus on coaching skills, which should be the point of them in the first place.
Making the Day Interactive for Teachers Is the Key to Successful Professional Development
Improving student outcomes starts with re-examining how teachers teach. If you don’t engage your students, you can’t expect them to retain the information you’re presenting or improve student learning.
I had a chemistry teacher in high school who would start every class period with “the periodic table song.” She didn’t intend to play it every class period. I’m sure she meant it to be played once, but our class begged to play it every class. Eventually, she gave up fighting us and made it a regular start to our class. I don’t remember much from my high school chemistry class, but I remember the periodic table! All because my teacher found a way to have us interact with our lesson. She could have just as easily told us to memorize the periodic table from our textbooks, but instead she engaged us by having us memorize a catchy song that, to this day, is still stuck in my head.
If you want your teachers to be encouraged to find fun and interactive ways to engage their class, start by leading by example in your next teacher in-service. Instead of the regularly scheduled training programs and meetings, try weaving something fun and interactive into the agenda. A good example is how we have done this in our own training at The Leaders Institute®.
How to Ensure You’re Engaging
During our Creating a Team Culture Workshop, we do something called The Listening Exercise. We include this at the end of our communication lesson because effective teaching and classroom communication depend on listening well.
We talk for 10–15 minutes about listening skills, then immediately put them into action with a small game. In this game, small groups of three are made, and each person is assigned the role of (1) The Listener, (2) The Talker, or (3) The Watcher. The Listener must exhibit either poor or good listening skills as the Talker talks, and the Watcher must identify if they are being a good listener or a bad listener. The team has a lot of fun practicing what not to do, and we usually get a lot of laughs. This short break in the training not only serves as a fun respite but also does a really good job reinforcing the importance of good listening skills and problem-solving skills, and our participants aren’t quick to forget what they learned.
So, during your next In-Service, consider shaking things up by providing an opportunity for an interactive activity that supports professional growth.
A Good Topic to Cover in Your In-Service Is Storytelling Because It Makes Your Lessons More Memorable
While you’re at it, you should bring up the importance of storytelling at your in-service too. Storytelling works like magic when it comes to student learning and retention. Let me give you an example. Below, I have provided an excerpt from a report on the strength of Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina made its third landfall near the Louisiana–Mississippi border with 125-mile-per-hour sustained winds and 928-millibar pressure, still at Category 4 intensity. Its minimum pressure at its second landfall was 920 mbar, making Katrina the fourth-strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on the United States, behind Hurricane Michael’s 919-millibar reading, Hurricane Camille’s 900-millibar reading in 1969, and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane’s 892-millibar record.
(Knabb, Richard D.; Rhome, Jamie R. “Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Katrina.” National Hurricane Center. December 20, 2005.)
Exciting, right? Hurricane Katrina was a devastating hurricane whose effects were felt by many, but by just telling us the technical specs and details, it doesn’t really give us a good picture. Let’s try this again. Here is an excerpt from a survivor whose story was published in People Magazine.
On Friday night (Aug. 26), some of us boarded up our houses. Others in town were saying that they didn’t want to “overreact” to the hurricane forecasts. But I was running around like crazy, yelling, “This is a (category) four!” I evacuated to my friend’s house with my 81-year-old mother, my 28-year-old niece and my sister-in-law. All night I’d been watching a giant pine tree in a neighbor’s yard. It had been bending mightily but had stayed rooted. Suddenly I heard a deafening crack, and I yelled, “Run!” Seconds later, the tree smashed through the house. We had escaped to the master bedroom closet in the center of the house. My sister-in-law hauled a mattress off the bed and leaned it on top of my mother and my niece. Then we noticed that the walls were heaving, so we raced around the house, opening windows to relieve the pressure build-up. Looking outside, we watched in horror as the house behind us turned into what looked like a living, breathing monster. The roof would lift, the house would expand, and then the roof would fall. Finally, the house exploded.
(Alice Jackson, “One Survivor’s Story”, People Magazine, Sept. 2005)
Which excerpt is more memorable? Most likely, the second. You probably caught yourself imagining what Alice Jackson was seeing and how she may have felt. And while that sticks in your mind, you probably don’t remember that Katrina’s 920 mbar rating classified it as the fourth strongest hurricane on record, but you won’t soon forget how the giant pine tree cracked and smashed into Alice Jackson’s house.
You Should Cover Coaching Skills in Your Next In-Service So Your Teachers Can Build Student Confidence
If your teachers can sharpen their coaching skills, they can help build their students’ self-confidence, enabling them to improve student achievement and generate more positive outcomes.
I was awful at math growing up. I was always in the remedial classes while the rest of my friends took honors and college prep classes. It wasn’t until I met Mrs. C that my entire demeanor toward math changed. Mrs. C took the time to observe me in and out of class and learned just how she could deliver her lesson to me in a way that I could understand more easily. She was the first person who ever made me believe that I might actually be good at math and helped me pass my SATs.
The importance of coaching can’t be underestimated in the classroom, so focusing on honing those skills is imperative for long-term professional growth and improved learning environments.
A great point to cover is constructive feedback. People usually have a good outlook on this practice, and you may even encourage it in your classrooms, but it doesn’t actually work, especially for young people. Any level of criticism will affect them. Even if you are able to take that criticism and turn it into something good, that mental sting will likely stick with you.
Many groups we work with try to use the Oreo method. This is where you sandwich a criticism between two compliments. In the end, all your students will remember is the critique, and it lessens the effect of the compliment. So, to the best of your ability, avoid criticizing and pointing out mistakes directly. This approach supports a healthier learning environment and more effective one-on-one coaching.
Start Applying These Ideas at Your Next Professional Development Day and Make the Time Worth It For Your Teachers
Professional development days shouldn’t feel like something your teachers dread waking up for. When done successfully, it becomes one of the most powerful tools for improving student learning and long-term student outcomes. Teachers are much more likely to get something out of professional learning programs when they’re engaging, fun, and aligned with their real professional learning needs.
Well-designed professional development gives educators practical strategies they can use right away in the classroom. It supports professional growth across entire careers, strengthens teaching practices, and builds a deeper knowledge base that benefits both teachers and students. When the result of these is to foster a healthier learning environment and more meaningful student achievement, it’s important to not skimp on it.
Ultimately, investing in high-quality professional learning programs helps educators refine their craft, adapt new strategies, and stay motivated in an evolving teaching profession. When teachers grow, so do students, and that’s the outcome every school district, administrator, and educator is working toward.
Looking for a team building activity to teach to teachers on professional development day? Try one of our several for students from kindergarten all the way to college!