No doubt parents wonder what it is that teachers do on "PD" ("Professional Development") days when the children are not at school. In general, the content of days when students are not at school is dictated by
the Ministry or the Board. Often, there is province-wide training that needs to be delivered on new initiatives, such as Literacy, Epi-pen training, Safe Schools Act, etc., etc. This training may be delivered in part by the Principal, a team of teachers from the school, or a program resource consultant with the Board. Often, teachers work in small groups on specific projects that form a component of the initiative being addressed. For example, as part of a PD day last year, our climate team met to plan a support assembly for students to address bullying in the school, while the program team met to map out cross-curricular ideas and get grade-level training in a new Literacy assessment resource.
Very occasionally, we have some flexibility in how to spend our PD day time, for example, during Reorganization Day, a day allotted to helping schools manage board-mandated reorganization of classes due to a change in numbers.
We in Peel recently had a "reorg" day, and while students were not here, we teachers most certainly were. Here's an overview of what went down in Ms. Teschow's life that day at school, for all who wonder "what teachers do":
8:30 - 9:15, help colleague move from downstairs classroom to upstairs classroom (sort through materials, physically haul boxes, sort garbage and recycling, etc.)
9:15 - 9:45, meet with student teacher to map out upcoming Math unit
9:45 - 10:15, reprint dayplans, class lists and duty schedule according to reorged info
10:15 - 10:55, plan lessons according to curriculum map, for the following week, chase down various resources on my "to find" list; beg kindly-obliging student teacher to help prepare next week's art lesson by cutting and pasting 21 strips of black construction paper and photocopying 144 Keith Haring mini-art pages
10:55 - 11:07, strategize with and encourage colleague who came to consult on a school support initiative
11:07 - 12:10, meet with Principal and several other teachers to share TLCP plan/Assessment for Learning plan, and to organize year-long, differentiated math remediation groups for struggling students in Grade 3, and enrichment plan for other groups of students
12:10 - 12:35, walk to Sub-way with colleague to pick up lunch
12:35 - 1:00, meet with new colleague, student teacher, and gr. level colleague to do Smart Board overview, while gobbling down lunch
1:00 - home time, putting together Smart Notebook files for upcoming math lessons, arranging Literacy notes for specific students, preparing monthly report/curriculum updates for families, long-range planning, photo-copying, file gathering, resource-consulting
I could use a "free" day in my classroom like this every week, and still have piles to do!
Very occasionally, we have some flexibility in how to spend our PD day time, for example, during Reorganization Day, a day allotted to helping schools manage board-mandated reorganization of classes due to a change in numbers.
We in Peel recently had a "reorg" day, and while students were not here, we teachers most certainly were. Here's an overview of what went down in Ms. Teschow's life that day at school, for all who wonder "what teachers do":
8:30 - 9:15, help colleague move from downstairs classroom to upstairs classroom (sort through materials, physically haul boxes, sort garbage and recycling, etc.)
9:15 - 9:45, meet with student teacher to map out upcoming Math unit
9:45 - 10:15, reprint dayplans, class lists and duty schedule according to reorged info
10:15 - 10:55, plan lessons according to curriculum map, for the following week, chase down various resources on my "to find" list; beg kindly-obliging student teacher to help prepare next week's art lesson by cutting and pasting 21 strips of black construction paper and photocopying 144 Keith Haring mini-art pages
10:55 - 11:07, strategize with and encourage colleague who came to consult on a school support initiative
11:07 - 12:10, meet with Principal and several other teachers to share TLCP plan/Assessment for Learning plan, and to organize year-long, differentiated math remediation groups for struggling students in Grade 3, and enrichment plan for other groups of students
12:10 - 12:35, walk to Sub-way with colleague to pick up lunch
12:35 - 1:00, meet with new colleague, student teacher, and gr. level colleague to do Smart Board overview, while gobbling down lunch
1:00 - home time, putting together Smart Notebook files for upcoming math lessons, arranging Literacy notes for specific students, preparing monthly report/curriculum updates for families, long-range planning, photo-copying, file gathering, resource-consulting
I could use a "free" day in my classroom like this every week, and still have piles to do!
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