Dear colleague,
During this past summer, I spent much of the time enjoying time away from the teaching and writing grind. But sprinkled throughout that time, I also travelled to schools in Ohio, Michigan, California, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas. In the midst of that PD work, I realized something about what a good professional development endeavor does: it enables transformation. We don't come to PD hoping to leave entirely unchanged; at the same time, we don't come hoping to change everything. What we hope is that the PD experience helps, that it enables us to change into someone a bit better, stronger, wiser.
So that's a lofty goal. Teacher PD that transforms the teacher. What goes into that?
Well, first, let's be clear: teacher PD can't transform a teacher. Rather, the teacher must do certain kinds of things, with care.
It's just like in my classroom. If my students don't do the work of learning themselves and do that work with care, they'll remain the same.
Yet despite that, it's still my responsibility as a PD guy to make transformation as straightforward as possible. So what are my targets when I'm leading PD?
Renewal of the mind. Action with the body.
These parts of the teacher soul are fundamental to teacher transformation.
First, my mind must be renewed by thinking on things that are helpful. The human mind is constantly renewing itself — dismantling unused things, adopting new things, creating new neural pathways, overwriting old ones.
Good PD, then, is very careful about pointing the teacher's mind toward graspable, helpful ideas. This is why thinking tools have become central to my work as a PD guy: things like the CCP of Credibility (introduced on p. 36 of The Will to Learn), the Rainbow of Why (p. 105 of WTL), the Effort/Efficacy Flywheel (p. 170 of WTL), the Five Key Beliefs Pyramid (inside front cover of WTL), the Pyramid of Writing Priorities (pp. 172-175 of These 6 Things), and the These 6 Things Bullseye (p. 11 of These 6 Things). These aren't just pretty graphics or gimmicks; they are instead graphic organizers for fundamental truths about teaching and learning. They don't demand much of the mind at first, but the more I attend to them, the more I look for them in my practice, the more my mind is renewed into something that makes teaching better a matter of course.
Renewal of the mind, in this way, is critical. You can't have transformation without a certain kind of mind renewal.
But then, of course, there must be embodied action. I must put into practice the things I am thinking about, using my body to practice these ideas. You can watch every YouTube video I've made and read every book I've written 100 times, but if you don't DO THINGS, you won't be transformed. Nor will I.
Here's a quick example from my classroom this week: on the first day of school, I had students write to me about a great teacher they've had in the past. I took their submissions, sorted them by teacher, and experienced a change in my inner world. Here's a video I made last week to describe that:
Now, of course, a lot of this embodied action just takes care of itself with a renewed mind. If I've found a way of thinking about Credibility that appeals to me, that gives me hope, that suggests action, then, of course, I'm likely to use these things in my practice.
But what if this PD person I'm listening to also tells me specific things to practice that will, over time, produce the effects I'm after? Things that perfectly align with the ideas I'm renewing my mind with?
Now I've got a shot at really experiencing transformation. The practices (or “strategies”) I'm given reinforce the ideas I've learned, and now all that's left is for me to engage in the practices. As I do these things — tracking attempted MGCs, mini-sermons, valued within exercises, Woodenization, Pop-Up Debates and so on — my mind is renewed even further and my body gains a “knack” for the work.
It sounds very theoretical, I know. But theories are only burdensome things when they don't make sense in my mind and don't seem actionable with my body. When theories do meet these criteria, they are a boon.
So, colleague, if there's ever something I've written to you that “makes sense,” think today on those things.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
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