Professional Development

The book Disrupting Class has brought to light many aspects of the future of teaching that I have not thought of before. I have been teaching for eight years, and many of my early years were spent in survival mode. Coming straight out of college and into the classroom, I felt to be effective, I needed to spend the bulk of my time preparing for class. Now that I am more comfortable in my profession and looking to perfect my teaching, I have had my eyes opened to some things in the future that will change the way we look at education.

An idea in the book Disrupting Class that could be used is the idea of moving from standardized to customized lesson planning. In my district, we have become consumed with standardized testing and curriculum due to state requirement and the QUSAC monitoring. As a result we have been moving towards standardizing everything. I think our district could pick and choose excerpts from the book to be used in a professional development next year. At the professional development we could read these excerpts and begin a constructive discussion in small groups as to how WE can customize lessons within the framework of standardization. The small groups should be as diverse as possible including a mix of backgrounds, ages, discipline, and experiences. The small groups will be given questions to aid discussion and lead them to specific areas of concern. After the small group work, the groups will begin a large group discussion to flush out the most creative, effective, and realistic ways to customize within the realm of standardization.