My Tempestuous Love Affair with PD

When I began work in education in 2012, I loved being a teacher. But what I hated viscerally was being a new teacher. The best thing about a new teacher is only her potential. Failure after failure with student after student can make you want to give up even before you begin. In my pursuit of graduating from being a 'new teacher,' the support I turned to most was Professional Development (PD) Sessions.

I attended all sessions organized by my school with wide eyes while making copious notes. I sought out PD outside school and travelled to other cities with my own money. I searched YouTube endlessly for free recordings of PD from abroad. During one of my negotiations (more like begging sessions) with my principal, while I was trying to convince her to pay for a weekend PD trip to Mumbai, she laughed and said, "You've become a PD Junkie!" I had to concede. I had certainly become one.

Being a PD Junkie helped me immensely, but only until I was a 'new teacher.' Once I got my basics in place, almost every PD session organized by my school brought out in me either rage or resignation. I couldn't tolerate a number of behaviours, including:

1. the blatant disrespect for teacher time - PD on Saturdays, holidays, and during after-school hours

2. the fact that most PD providers were teachers for hardly 2-3 years, the kind of time that doesn't even guarantee that one has their basics in place as a teacher

3. copy-paste PD from 'foreign' education books with a reckless disregard for the specific teachers in the room and the specific students they teach

4. an arrogance that manifested as instant teacher blame when any teacher even began to suggest that something that they advised may not have worked with her students - "The method works. You don't know how to implement it."

5. an erroneous assumption that teachers have unlimited physical, mental, and emotional capacities

6. a convenient blind eye toward a teacher's prior knowledge, current skills, abilities, strengths, and limitations

7. a narrow focus on either the content and methods or on the socio-emotional aspects of a classroom, never both, and a complete dismissal of the other

8. an enormous distance from the actual student data in the teachers' classrooms

9. complete erasure of students with learning difficulties and disabilities - "We are talking today about an average student, not fringe cases."

10. schedules that interfered with and ironically became impediments to good teaching

11. an antagonistic stand against teachers - if I'm supposed to love and advocate for my students, why are some of these coordinators, teacher leaders, and principals out to get me?

Now, let me be clear. I am not one of those organizations or people who define their life's work as a solution to the world's problems. I didn't want to solve any of the above issues. All I wanted to do was not attend. I wanted to save my precious time and energy to invest in PD, which could *actually* help me become a better teacher.

In my attempt to run away from PD, however, I also ran away from opportunities that could have allowed me to share my work and insights with fellow teachers. I was afraid I'd do to them what was done to me despite knowing I had enough knowledge and skills to add value to their teaching journeys.

Once I began private practice in 2020, I had the opportunity to attempt PD for teachers in gradual, gentle, and deliberate steps. I took my time to figure out the whats, the hows, and the whens. I was extremely selective about the teachers and organizations I engaged with. I began to see teachers leaving my sessions feeling heard and knowing more. To my surprise, I have loved every minute of it. Aside from my work with students, providing PD for teachers is one of the most fulfilling aspects of my work today.

Those points above, however, have been central to my foray into teacher PD. I remember them all the time, so I remember what not to do and how not to be. Of course, my attempts are not perfect, but as always, they are sincere.

If all those points represent what my PD isn't like, what is it like?

That's what my next post is about. Watch this space.

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash