Early in my teaching career I resented PD. Called “staff development” or sometimes “staff training,” these days were filled with advice from a visiting “expert,” an outsider that came to the school to tell the teachers what to do (we referred to the sessions as “drive by,” or “hit and run” because there was rarely any follow up or processing afterward). I remember the anger I felt at being taken away from the important work of my classroom. I viewed these trainings as nothing more than a lost day, one in which I would rather be collaboratively planning with colleagues, developing curriculum and even finding a few minutes to work on the looming student papers piled high on my desk. The days felt long, my notebooks filled with satirical doodles and I’m quite sure my learning was limited by the defensiveness I felt in being undervalued.

Professional development is different in the National Writing Project: the NWP’s model of teachers teaching teachers builds on the wisdom of learning in context, the knowledge that teachers know their students and the communities in which they live. Its brilliance is in a simple approach to adult learning that values what each invested party brings to the table, tenents like: meet people where they are, recognize and build from the knowledge each carries, learn together.

Now, professional development means opportunity to me.