Professional Development

[dsmms]

Last year our district doubled the requirement for professional development to 18 hours. Is this common? My first two years as a teacher, we had to have 9 hours.

I enrolled in two workshops that was offered in June and July by our school system and both cancelled! I was hoping to get most of those hours during the summer. I did pick up 7 hours by signing up at the last minute for some classes, but still have to come up with 12 extra hours of my own time to fill the remaining requirement. I don't mind doing the time, but I wish they would make "relevant" workshops available during the summer when time is not so much an issue.

Donna

[jsfowler]

I have to have 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[coco2]

Mine were also cancelled. I'm not sure what to do about it.

[teacher5]

During our last contract we had to have 20 hours. During our present contract we negotiated it down to 16 hours. I hope in the next one it goes down to 12 or 10. Our Assist. Supt. of Instruction often preprograms elem. teachers for mandated courses. Therefore, we cannot be closed out, and if they are ever cancelled and not postponed you get the credit if you signed up. No class has ever been cancelled. At the elem. level we are usually preprogrammed for 10 or more hours. Each course it 2 hours. You are so right about relevancy. Most of the time we sit there and watch the clock. Some of the time we are forced to produce a product which some of us may be able to use. Often we are lucky and get a presenter who finishes in 75-90 min. These 16 hours are done after school. You know they say kids have a black hole time of the day for learning somewhere in the afternoon, well teachers do when they attend many of these.

[MissTeach]

We have to have 20. I agree with teacher5 about the black hole time for teachers. It is sooooo hard to go to meetings or seminars after school. I try to get my hours in the summer so I don't have to go after school.

[irish223]

My district doesn't have any required professional development outside of the regular school day. The only exception is nontenured teachers who must attend one district-sponsored workshop per year, and that requirement was just added with our last contract.

My state requires 120 hours over the course of 5 years in order to recertify, but it's up to the individual to decide how and when to get those hours.

One good thing about my district is that they do offer decent summer workshops, rarely cancel them, and often provide a stipend to attendees if the workshop is offered through a grant or through association with a local agency.

[Karenrbw]

My district does not require professional development hours. However, you must get a certain number during a renewal cycle to keep your teaching certificate current. We do have about 6 days of PD built into the school calendar that helps us with these hours.

[seastarmath]

My district requires fifteen hours of renewal credit every five years. Three of those credits must be in teaching reading skills in your content area (even PE teachers) and four in your area of discipline. We get one credit each year we teach. The district offers some free workshops usually through the community colleges or county offices. The really good workshops, though, have to come out of your pocket. I am saving to attend a Kagan conference. I would just love to learn more about how start using them. (I need a Kagan mentor!) I don't think it is really too much to ask. You have to be careful, though, about people pushing ideas and practices that have not been thoroughly researched or that are making someone a lot of money. I've been to those unfortunately. The BEST workshops I ever went to occurred in the same year. The Coastal Federation led us marsh mucking and canoeing as we restored the oyster beds in the estuary. We spent a week at an old coast guard lighthouse studying the ecology. (I got to watch a loggerhead turtle lay her eggs) The other one was INSTRUCT run by a professor from UNCW. The things I learned there made it easy for me to get my national board certification. Sometimes, you do come across those one in a million chances.