Module 6: Guidelines on Organizing Professional Development Events
In Module 5, we looked at several possible activities for cascading new knowledge and you discussed some of the ones that were most attractive to you. Many of these activities are ones that can be done with just one other colleague. These are excellent activities that we strongly recommend you engage in.
You may at some point want also to organize professional development activities that involve groups of people. These may be workshops, session where everyone shares ideas on a certain theme, or get-togethers where the group views a video and discusses it together afterwards. Organizing activities like this can be very enriching. Here are some guidelines for organizing that kind of activity.
1. Find out what your colleagues are interested in
An excellent place to start is by talking with colleagues and finding out what challenges they have in the classroom and what kind of activity would be interesting to them. We all know how busy teachers are, so if we want them to come to our events, we need to offer something that will speak to their interests.
2. Start small
Often teachers think that professional development activities have to be big events. This is actually a difficult place to start. It's better to start with small events, with perhaps as few as three or four people. Probably when you start small, the people who come to the first events will be friends of yours. This is a great place to start. It is better to start with a solid base. Your activities will grow in size naturally over time, if that's what you want and you put effort towards it.
3. Think through the small details
Just like teaching a class, a successful event requires you to think not only about the big details, but also the small ones. Don't forget to think through all the steps. Where will you hold the event? Where will people sit? How will people find out about the event? Will everyone bring a pen and paper, or should you provide some? How can you set the tone so that people don't tend to stray far off-topic when discussing?
4. Get help
Running a professional development event takes a lot of work. You should get all the help you can. Think about what other volunteers you can get to help you. These might be other teachers, but often it's difficult to find other teachers who feel they have the time to volunteer. You might think about contacting recently formed teachers who perhaps don't have a full-time job and are interested in making professional contacts. Be creative in thinking about who you can contact.
Another thing to keep in mind when you look for volunteers is that the best combination is to work with people who are good at things that you aren't as good at. If you don't really like technology, find someone who does. Or maybe you aren't as good at planning. Find people whose skills complement yours.
5. Keep it interesting
The same rules apply for running a good event as apply for teaching a good class: lecturing isn't interesting; people like interaction and small group work; and the topic has to be something that is interesting to the participants. Even the best teachers are sometimes tempted to run events in a lecture style because they feel there is not enough time. When you see that you are thinking this way, try to find a way to make your event more interactive.
6. If you can teach, you can present
Often teachers feel shy about leading a workshop or giving a presentation in front of other teachers. Don't forget how much you know and how good you are in front of your students. You can use those same abilities to run successful events with your colleagues. Have confidence in your ability to do so.
7. Find partners
Think creatively about how you can get assistance from others. Is there a local organization that would let you use their space to have a meeting? Can you convince a school or local business to let you make photocopies for free? Perhaps you can convince a local bakery to donate some cookies for the event, especially if in return it can serve as marketing for them.
With a little bit of planning and a lot of enthusiasm, you and your colleagues can put on professional development events that will be meaningful, useful, and inspiring for those who attend.
To cite this page:
World Learning. (2018). Guidelines on organizing professional development events. In "Integrating Critical Thinking Skills into the Exploration of Culture in an EFL Setting" [Online course].
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