Top 5 Professional Development Activities for Collaboration

A belief many hold about professional development activities is that they don't privilege reflection and action. Educators want their work outside of the classroom to matter as much as their time with students but as a National School Boards Association report notes, “most teachers aren’t given the kind of professional development that would actually help them.”

However, educators and district leaders have a powerful tool when looking to bolster their PD: types of collaboration. When discussing educational matters, working together can have a big impact. Collaboration brings “a safety net; it helps you catapult your thinking and develop ideas that may seem crazy at first.” With this concept in mind, here are five ways to supercharge PLCs with PD collaboration!

• Collaborative Curriculum Development. The best classes don’t always emerge in a vacuum. Team collaboration around curriculum is a great way to deepen knowledge of a subject matter. In real time, members of a PLC can receive real-time feedback in order to identify gaps in their learning environments and incorporate new trends into their individual plans, resources, and tools.
• Coaching / Classroom Visitations. Educators who don’t limit their experiences to their own classrooms know how powerful it can be to see their peers in action. Visiting other classrooms - or even schools - provides an eye-opening glimpse into other styles of teaching, learning, and administrative policy. Observing these different systems inspires educators to bring new problem-solving skills and teaching methods to their primary learning spaces, especially if teachers work with coaches to help apply these observations to their primary learning spaces. 
• Continuing Education and Conferences. These programs can help educators grow and level-set learning opportunities within a structured PD environment. Continuing-education classes train teachers on the latest pedagogical and instructional strategies, while conferences help to immerse educators and district leaders in themed discussions on a variety of subjects, including mentoring new teachers, focusing on student growth, and the future of education.
• School/District Implementation Plans. For something as challenging as integrating a district’s prescribed implementation plan, it helps to work alongside people with different perspectives and strengths. These plans unite you with fellow educators as you brainstorm cross-campus processes and even professional development strategies. Doing so allows for diversity of thinking, wider creativity, and increased productivity.‍
• Data Analysis. Analyzing data can yield important results about classroom efficacy. When members of a PLC, school, or even district do this work together, they become aware of larger variables and trends impacting the student body. Those trends affect how students and teachers approach course materials as well as the outside factors playing additional roles. Programs like Google Classroom can help educators examine and synthesize student data from a number of demographics.

As educators, we need to develop long term skills and expose ourselves to new concepts. Successful collaborations turn professional development from an obligation into an asset! 

Additional Resources:

Check out the following resources for more tips on professional development!

• Benefits of Collaboration
• Collaborative Learning Tips And Strategies For Teachers
• A Collaborative Model for Professional Development in K-12 Schools
• The Educator Collaborative
• How Coaching Can Impact Teachers, Principals, and Students
• Professional Development Activities for Teachers
• Professional Learning
• Professional Learning Strategies for Teachers that Work
• Why most professional development for teachers is useless