12 Ideas to Make Back to School PD Meaningful

1. Make it brief.

Teachers have an enormous amount of things to do to prepare for students. Arranging desks, pulling student data, prepping initial paper & digital resources, creating parent contact lists, organizing the room, stuffing updated rosters in the emergency bag, etc., etc. Attending required back to school PD sessions can feel like being held hostage in the midst of the back to school chaos- keep your face time short & impactful. 

2. Swap traditional PD for "Stream your PD". 

 Where is the one place teachers WANT to be when they are sitting through a packed day of scheduled inservice sessions? In their rooms! Consider pre-recording any back to school sessions and give teachers the option of streaming the session from their rooms while they work. Include an attendance link (such as a bit.ly) or QR code in the end of your recording to collect attendance & follow up questions. 

3. Food & Snacks

  A good stress-snack always helps me feel better! Pair a sweet treat with a back to school pun and have them waiting at tables for PD participants. 

4. Facilitate a scavenger hunt.

One of my favorite PD days as a teacher included a community-wide scavenger hunt. We were grouped by our teaching teams (great because we had 3 new teachers on our team!) and tasked with completing different activities within the school community. It allowed us to team-build organically (not through awkward ice-breakers) and get to know the community we were serving. This could also be done within the school building on a smaller scale. 

5. Gamify with breakout rooms.

Not to be confused with Zoom breakout rooms. Creating a breakout experience with a kit like BreakoutEDU or a digital experience through Genially can help alleviate stress and present content in a way that teachers actually WANT to engage with. 

6. Time surveys carefully. 

There is a lot that we want to know at the beginning of the year. (Topics/technology of most interest, teacher learning needs, future PD preferences, skill aptitudes, etc.) Save lengthy surveys for 3 to 4 weeks into the school year. Instead, collect anecdotal data about teacher needs. Circulate through the building on teacher work days and strike up conversations with teachers as they work- don't pull them away from their tasks and read the room if they seem too busy to chat. Ask questions like, "What are you most looking forward to this year?," and "What are your most pressing challenges going into the year." Collect data from these open-ended and authentic conversations to guide your work in the first 30-60 days of the school year. 

7. Make the "why" and relevance of the session explicit. 

When leading sessions at the beginning of the year (& really any time throughout the year), share the purpose and the relevance of the session in your first 3 minutes of speaking. Make sure that you can clearly answer the hypothetical question, "what's in it for me?". 

8. Differentiate for new & veteran teachers. 

Use stations or choice boards to differentiate content. Consider allowing veteran teachers to come to the session 15-20 minutes later than new teachers & front load your session with only the information new teachers need. 

9. Supplement with a memory jogger.

The start of the school year can be chaotic. Plan for the chaos and isolate the top 5-10 pieces of information from your session and create a memory jogger that teachers can refer back to throughout the year. 

10. Prioritize positive climate & culture.

There is a time & a place for deep theoretical content about pedagogical best practice, increasing rigor, and deconstructing standards. The first week back to school is not it. Be responsive to the climate & culture needs of your school community. 

11. Ask for follow up preferences.

If you are in a situation in which your teachers are taking on a major change this year (adopting new curriculums, moving to team-based teaching, etc), teachers are going to need support after the initial session- but one size does not fit all! At the end of the session ask (maybe in a survey or exit ticket) what support teachers would like and when they would like it. For example, "What is your next step?" with the options, "Try on my own, Co-teach with support from the coach, Observe a model lesson, Talk it through with the coach."

12. Provide ready to use resources.

Nobody has time to reinvent the wheel in the thick of August and September. Pair your content with ready-made examples and resources that teachers can use right away. 

What do you do to make back to school PD meaningful for your staff? Let us know!