20 minute P.D.: Making Lifelong Learning Manageable

20 minute P.D.: Making Lifelong Learning Manageable

I like to think of myself as a lifelong learner.  I am always looking for new ideas for my classroom.  It keeps me excited about teaching and fresh from year to year.  However, it can get overwhelming. When school gets busy, my best intentions are often pushed to the side in favour of the more pressing issues of teaching.

When I set the goal for myself this year that I would blog and tweet more, I didn't know how much that would inspire me to investigate new (or new to me) teaching ideas.  I came across a tweet by Brad Currie about A 5-Day Plan to Bring Professional Development Into Your Daily Routine. The link in the tweet no longer works and I am having trouble finding the article but I will tell you what I got from his words.

The idea is that teachers can engage in meaningful P.D. by dedicating 20 minutes a day to discovering new ideas.  He suggested a 5 day plan.  Monday is designated for reading an article or blog post. Tuesday is dedicated to watching a # devoted to an educational issue.  Wednesday focuses on a blog, either reading or writing a blog post.  Thursday involves watching a video.  Finally, Friday invites 20 minutes of listening to a podcast.

I have used these guidelines to structure 20 minutes of P.D. into each prep period.  I am well into week two.  Today's post is my 20 minutes of blogging.  It has proven to be very easy to do and I find it very engaging.

Here is my schedule for last week:
Monday: Labour Day
Tuesday: #internationalliteracyday
Wednesday: Blog Post about the Remind App
Thursday: "The Angry Eye" Jane Elliot (I later used this video with my class)
Friday: "Life on Purpose" podcast by http://markwguay.com/ (not really what I was looking for)

I think I will post my weekly schedule so I can have a record of what I looked at, in case I want to use an idea later on.

This week, I have already adapted the reading 20 minutes to include chapters for my Research in Education class at UWindsor.  However, I have also been reading short articles about a variety of subjects as a result of my weekly search for 20min P.D. topics.

I am interested to ask colleague how they engage in P.D. on a regular basis without becoming overwhelmed.  This is working for me so far, although it is still early days.