What was the worst professional learning session you ever attended? What made it so bad, and how can you avoid doing those things during your PDs?

I’ve worked with lots of instructional coaches, who told me their professional development sessions are not as engaging as they would like them to be. When I’ve observed different professional learning sessions, I definitely saw some areas where coaches could make adjustments to make their PDs more impactful.

‌In episode 4 of The Simply Instructional Coaching Podcast, I share my favorite tips and strategies for creating meaningful professional learning experiences. The kind that excites teachers and improves student outcomes.

I explain how to build a culture that supports collaboration and give you ideas for leading small groups of teacher teams. You’ll learn what I did to encourage teachers to pick their own professional learning topics and how it made planning much easier for me. Listen now to find out how to create meaningful learning experiences that foster trust among teachers and encourage learning.

Topics in Episode 4 – Creating Meaningful Professional Learning Experiences

• Setting shared norms with teachers at the beginning of the year
• Using “Good Things” at the beginning of your professional development sessions
• Building a culture that supports collaboration the building
• Ideas for leading small groups of teacher teams to work collaboratively on a shared goal they develop
• Sharing school improvement goals with teachers and asking them to help decide the focus goals for the year
• Using rubrics focused on school-wide goals
• Peer observation and feedback
• My strategy for letting teachers decide their professional learning topics and how it made planning learning sessions much easier
• Fostering an atmosphere of trust among teachers so they’re open to learning
• The connection between school culture and student progress
• Discussing students’ work and developing a plan for improving student outcomes
• 5 questions to ask as you discuss student work
• Focusing on goals and results

You won’t want to miss this episode. You can listen using the media player on this page or download it anywhere you get your podcasts.

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