Trying to improve your own professional development predicament? It’s about time that we all started following the PD Rules! Below are the basics of the rules as described in ROGUE Leader: Make the Rules, Inspire Others, and Take Control of Your Own Professional Development Destiny:
- Always meet with a purpose. Focus on why you are meeting in the first place. Be intentional. Meet with your purpose in mind. Share that purpose with everyone involved. Let others know why you are gathering and give them a reason for being there.
- Be consistent. Make PD a regular part of the routine. Find a consistent time each week or month that can be dedicated to professional learning. Don’t skip out on opportunities to grow and learn.
- Get involved. Don’t sit idly by and let PD be done to you. Work from the inside to make it better. Don’t just complain about bad PD. Take action to improve professional development. You are ultimately in charge of your own PD destiny.
- Bring your passion. PD works better when you are passionate about what you are learning about. Passion can be contagious. Ideas will spread. Others will learn. They will in turn become passionate about their own learning
- Find others willing to join your pursuit. Become a recruiter. Find others who are also tired of problematic PD. Convince them that you can tackle the problem together. Build a small army of the willing.
- Look for the obvious. Find the glaring needs. Look for pain points. Keep your ears to the ground and listen for areas of dissatisfaction. Deliver on the obvious needs.
- Address wants and needs (and everything in between)! Create PD that addresses areas that colleagues excel at. Address areas in which teachers need help. Pinpoint topics in which teachers want help. Find a way to focus on the whole learner!
- Time is precious—don’t waste it. Don’t waste your own time with bad PD. Don’t waste someone else’s time with bad PD. Always start and end on time. Never use more time than you actually need.
- There’s no such thing as bad (self-initiated) PD. If you take PD into your own hands, you will learn something. You know what you need. You know what’s going to help. You know how you should be spending your time. Take responsibility for your own PD.
- When in doubt, if a rule is not working, break it, or make your own rule. Do what you want to improve PD. Do what you can to make it better. No matter what. Don’t accept no for an answer. Break the rules if you must, or make them up as you go.
Looking for more PD inspiration?! Pick up a copy of ROGUE Leader today!
Rich