Do you live in Singapore? Are you a school or enrichment centre owner? If yes, it is likely your goal to help your teachers become abreast with new strategies that will help them do their job better.
As you likely know, one of the most effective ways to help your teachers perform better is by having them take part in a teacher professional development program.
School administrators who have had professional development sessions with their teachers can attest that it is daunting. Everything from time, money, effectiveness, and engagement can make the process challenging.
Granted, these challenges are demoralizing, but they shouldn’t deter you from running the programs that will help your teachers become abreast with the trends in their field.
In this article, we will be looking at some tips to make teacher professional development programmes more engaging. Read here for more helpful teacher development resources.
Make it specific
It is easy to assume that a professional development program can help any teacher perform better. But, that is far from the truth.
Since every teacher faces unique challenges, there is a slim chance that just any professional development program can help them.
If you want your professional development program to be relevant, you have to make it practical and relevant to your teachers.
To do this, you first have to ask your teachers what they will like to learn. Alternatively, you can give them a couple of courses or workshops to choose from.
If because of your limited time and resources, you can’t offer different courses at a time, you should pick one or two courses that can add value to a good number of your teachers and go in-depth.
Ensure that the tips in the program are actionable and can be used in the classroom right away.
At the end of the session, ask your teachers what they think about the session. After a couple of days or weeks, ask your teachers the strategies that worked, what didn’t, and what they will like to learn about next time.
Ensure that they participate fully in the program
Getting your teachers invested in the development program will go a long way to ensure that they get the most out of it.
That said, getting teachers immersed in a development program is no walk in the park. The obvious reason for this is that most teachers don’t like to be treated like students. They see themself as educated professionals who are employed to help kids.
If you have teachers with this mindset in your school, chances are, you aren’t going to get the impact you desire.
Well, the good news is that there are several ways to get teachers engaged in a personal development program without making them feel like they are students. Below are some of them
- Ask your teachers to collectively brainstorm the wayto address an issue they are all facing
- Give teachers who have had success using a new teaching strategy to share their stories.
Final note
There are a plethora of things you can do to help your teachers get the most out of the professional development program you organized.
Applying the tips discussed in this article will go a long way in helping you achieve the results you desire.