Around this time of year, school leaders start thinking about next year's PD. And so, I'd like to argue that when planning for next year, leaders should aim at giving their teachers permission to focus their professional improvement efforts on as few things as possible.
A key to my teaching career so far is that I've decided to be average at most things and excellent at only a handful. In many areas of teaching, I'm just okay. But in what I have found to be the most strategic areas, I've gained a deep understanding and proficiency.
This is interesting to write when I hold in my mind the picture of Early Career Dave. That poor guy wanted to be awesome at everything. He wanted to be the National Teacher of the Year. He was obsessed with being the best. His role models were Erin Gruwell and Ron Clark and Robin Williams' character in Dead Poets Society. And he was a great guy. I still love him today.
The problem is, that guy had to quit. There was no way to teach like he taught and have a life outside the classroom. His approach to the career was well-suited for a monk but not well-suited for a husband or father.
When I came back to teaching, I knew I had to do it differently. I couldn't chase the latest shiny object. I couldn't complete all the project ideas that popped into my mind when I was inspired. Instead, I had to apprentice myself to the fundamentals of our craft. And so, I adopted a series of burning questions in which the answer to one led to the asking of another:
- What's school for? School is for promoting the long-term flourishing of young people.
- How can schools best promote the long-term flourishing of young people? By teaching them to master the material in the courses they take.
- But what about things like character and soft skills? These things can be optimally developed in a classroom that is focused on mastering course material and skills because mastering these things is HARD and DOING HARD THINGS is an efficient way to build character and develop soft skills.
- How can we best help students grow toward mastery? By:
- 1) Cultivating their motivation
- 2) Giving them daily opportunities to build knowledge and 3) argue
- Having them 4) read, 5) write, and 6) speak purposefully and often in ways that make sense for the courses we teach (those are the “six things” in These 6 Things)
And really, that's where my work is at today. Alllll the work I do outside the classroom (writing, in-person PD, online courses, YouTube) is aimed at helping folks apprentice to these basic areas of practice.
It is super basic on purpose. Because when you focus on the basics, you develop a deep grasp of how the basics work. And once you have that grasp, you become capable of instructional and curricular decision-making that would've been impossible for you before you apprenticed to the basics.
So, if you're in a school system that's planning 24-25 PD right now and you're interested in my help with a back-to-basics PD program, be in touch. You might also be interested in this menu I made of my PD offerings and how they work.
And if you're not a PD decision-maker, I hope you'll take this away: the basics matter. They are enough. It's more than okay to be okay at most things but excellent at only the important few.
Best,
DSJR
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