I have written before about the differences between professional development and professional learning. In short, I am working to promote professional learning as a mindset instead of an event. In order to support this shift, we are attempting to enhance what the PD we offer through our district looks like. Traditionally, courses have been offered face to face, right after school, for an hour or two at most. This schedule excluded many teachers who were coaching, leading clubs or activities, or had to get home to their own children. While many wanted to participate, our structures were somewhat prohibitive. While these face to face options are still viable, we know we can do more. Enter: PD in Your PJs.
I am a huge fan of Twitter as a source of professional learning, both asynchronously as I scroll for interesting content, and synchronously through weekly chats I participate in with other educators. So when I wanted to find a way to reach more teachers outside of typical PD hours, I turned to Twitter as the platform. With the help of a few other instructional specialists, we planned and advertised an online book club called “PD in Your PJs.” Take a look at the flyer (linked below) for all of the details.
PD in your PJS (flyer)
While some teachers were a little anxious about Twitter as the platform for our book club meetings, we provided them with some video tutorials and many were able to successful post their first tweet during our book club chats. Our group of chatters is small right now, but those that are participating have great things to say. I cannot wait to see what develops as we continue offering PD in Your PJs!
