Need professional development ideas

Hi Ladies,

I need some ideas! I have to come up with a years worth of PD for high school around the areas of reading and writing. Does not have to be subject specific.

So, what were some of your "favorite" PDs throughout the year?

Thanks so very much!

Re: Need professional development ideas

Message edited 7/6/2008 12:31:36 AM.

Re: Need professional development ideas

I dont know what kind of district you work in but I am taking a class right now on the effects of poverty on education. It is really amazing how deprived these students are by the time they reach Kindergarten!!! One of the most astonding things that I learned is that students from impoverished families hear about HALF the amount of words per hour as middle class students. Because of this alone their use of language is way behind other students by age 5.

"SIMPLY IN WORDS HEARD THE AVERAGE CHILD ON WELFARE WAS HAVING HALF AS MUCH EXPERIENCE (616 WORDS PER HOUR) AS THE AVERAGE WORKING CLASS CHILD (1,251 WORDS PER HOUR) AND LESS THAN ONE-THIRD THAT OF THE AVERAGE CHILD IN A PROFESSIONAL FAMILY (2,153 WORDS PER HOUR). BY AGE FOUR, THE AVERAGE CHILD IN A WELFARE FAMILY MIGHT HAVE 13 MILLION FEWER WORDS OF CUMULATIVE EXPERIENCE THAN THE AVERAGE CHILD IN A WORKING-CLASS FAMILY".

Re: Need professional development ideas

Anything related to technology-

new websites
using Smartboards to help with reading and writing

Re: Need professional development ideas

I'm in middle school, so other than seconding MrsPower's suggestion of technology-related things, I can't suggest topics.

However, the best PDs I ever attended were more hands-on. I left those sessions with ideas I could use the next day, if I needed/wanted. When I was the literacy coach, that was my goal for any PDs I had to do- make it relevant and doable ASAP without tons of preparation.