Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Kirstin Reigler
EAD 863
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
makers, and teachers minds. Education reforms regarding class sizes, school year
length, academic content, teacher requirements, and standardized testing have been in
the national spotlight. While the discussions regarding education have been debated
keep up with the ever-changing environment they work in. The most prominent way
that teachers stay up to date and educated with all of the reforms, is through training
When broken down, there can be many aims and purposes of training and
teach reading strategies, how to best meet student diversity, and so on. However, the
overall aim and purpose of training and professional development in the professional
confidently take training and professional development content back into their
goals falling in suit. An educators job is to educate each and every student that walks
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
experiences in education are the bridges and pathways that lead to the education of
those students.
With education being such a broad and diverse profession, there will never be a
one size fits all outlook for planning and delivering a training and professional
development experience. Two schools that are down the road from one another may
service drastically different students, and may employ incredibly diverse teachers. For
school may truly need a training and professional development experience focusing
on how to effectively teach the close reading technique in their classroom, while
another teacher may truly need a training and professional development experience
focusing on how to engage learners that are coming to school from impoverished
homes. Vella (2002), focuses on twelve main principles for effective adult learning.
Vella claims these twelve main principles “begin, maintain, and nurture the dialogue”
understand what the group of learners “really needs to learn, what they already know,
and what aspects of the course fit their situation” (Vella, p. 5, 2002). As Queeny
(1995) states, needs assessment do not guarantee that the training and professional
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
development experiences will be successful, but they can help the facilitator
understand the underlying factors that should guide their teaching which will help
incredibly diverse, and the needs of one school’s training and professional
assessment gives the facilitator the opportunity to mold their teaching to meet the
nature of knowledge is viewed in reference to the learners taking content back to their
own diverse classrooms. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (1991) claimed that " First,
conditions within which students can construct meaning from the material studied by
discover, and transform the content differently than a 5th grade teacher. This is why
the nature of learning shows that putting the learning into the actual learners hands is
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
concepts students can relate to. It is then reconstructed and expanded through new
framework as it allows the learners to take the content presented and mold and
As Vella states, there are 12 principles that lead to adult learning. All of these
principles, working together, increase the success of an adult training and professional
actions of learners, keeping learning immediate, maintain clear roles, using teamwork,
learning (Vella, p. 4, 2002). Adults learn best when they take responsibility for their
content into something they can relate to. When learners transform the content into
something they can relate to, they are more willing to learn and more willing to take
responsibility for their learning. In order to take responsibility for their learning, the
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
twelve principles Vella reviewed must be met. It can be recognized that none of these
principles ties directly into the content presented within a training and professional
foundation of learning. The foundation of adult learning relies on the main pillars that
Vella stated above. Once these main pillars are met, students are going to feel
It has been said time and time again that education is a unique career pathway.
short, sometimes 30-40 minutes, and includes teachers that service diverse groups of
students. There may be teachers that teach art, special education, 5th grade, and
job much more difficult, as they have to present content in a way that all the teachers
in the room can absorb content and take it back to their classrooms and service their
population no matter what. This is why active learning is so powerful for educational
training and professional development experiences. “Active training occurs when the
participants do most of the work” (Silberman, p.1, 2015). In education, allowing the
participants to do most of the work, as Silberman said, is much more powerful. “Our
brains need to link what we are being taught with what we already know and how we
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
style. Not only are teaching styles different, but they are encouraged by
administration. One teacher’s thought process may be different than another’s. Active
learning allows teachers to link content with their personal thinking and classroom
styles. Active learning is so beneficial for education, for so many reasons. Teachers
can absorb content, in the framework of their own personal classrooms. They can
implement content, and reach desired learning through their own styles. Active
learning requires the learner to make decisions on their own about how they plan to
understand the material. Active learning allows for the freedom teachers desire in
their classrooms. Not only does the active learning framework fit the flexibility of
professional development experiences are few and far between. With a national
during the school day. Training and professional development experiences are often
rare, and short in time when they do occur. Active learning fits this timing issue, as it
allows learners to continue to absorb the content and learn on their own time. The
teachers take responsibility for the learn and go back to their classrooms and
implement the content, discuss with peers, and reflect on their teaching all on their
own time. Meanwhile, the facilitator can still reach out to learners via email or phone
to discuss how the active learning is progressing. Active learning allows participants
to continue with their career, while learning and implementing content. Active
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
learning also allows participants to mold content to fit into their classroom style, and
still follows main principles that are important in adult learning. Active learning
and their expectations. Active learning relies on training objectives, as “objectives are
the pillars of the program” (Silberman, p. 40, 2015). There are still goals set by the
facilitators, and course structure to meet those goals. Training activities are still
designed to meet learner needs and to align with end objectives and goals. Active
learning always emphasizes the importance of evaluation and feedback as well. Active
learning is a framework that allows the learners to reach their learning goals, while
still be facilitated in ways that follow the main principles of adult learning.
As mentioned above, adult learning is most efficient when it begins with the
the facilitator will have much more insight as to how to design and implement a
assessment, it is important that the facilitator create objectives that align with the
you have to “begin with the end in mind” (Winegarden, p. 1, 2005). The facilitator
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
must create course objectives that align with the goals of the course. Once these
objectives are created, the facilitator can start selecting instructional and training
strategies that guide implementation. Within the educational context, these objectives
may be worked towards over the course of one single experience, or an entire school
year. Depending on the timeline, strategies for implementation may differ. However,
overall there are a few strategies that are most beneficial in the education context.
Group discussions allow the learners to challenge one another, hear one another’s
opinions and experiences, and take charge of their learning. “Student engagement and
development formats. Group discussions also allow for flexibility regarding the
timeline. With an active learning framework in education, learners can have group
outside of those experiences with participants. The active learning framework also
pairs well with the implementation of collaborative learning. The word collaboration
responsible for their actions, including learning and respect the abilities and
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
2014). Collaborative learning once again gives the flexibility and freedom to align
diversity and experiences that each group member brings. Collaborative learning also
education, this is one of the most beneficial pillars of active learning and collaborative
learning strategies. With training and professional development experiences being few
and far between, the flexibility to have group discussions and collaborative learning
with targeted feedback are critical to learning” (Ambrose et al, p. 125, 2010). Practice
can be viewed as the time teachers spend in their classrooms implementing content
they have learned. It can also be viewed as the group discussions participants are
having about content. Regardless, independent practice is vital for mastery of content.
difficult within an educational context as facilitators may not always be present during
the practice portion of the active learning framework. Due to this issue, the
collaboration piece of the active learning framework comes into play. With
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
foundational principles Vella explained: safety. With the safe environment amongst
participants that active learning and collaboration creates, peer feedback can be very
powerful. In education, feedback may be from the facilitator when possible, but can
also be provided by peers who have knowledge of the goals. This offers the learner
feedback on their experiences, but also a different perspective towards their goal. This
feedback throughout the active learning experience helps to look at the content in a
important because feedback can “tell students what they are or are not understanding,
where their performance is going well or poorly, and how they should direct their
the evaluation of these experiences may be different from a typical training and
experiences may run over the course of multiple months, with monthly meetings
discussing content. Some training and professional development experiences may run
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
over the course of the school year with 4 meetings to discuss content, and some may
different types of evaluation platforms. The needs assessment at the beginning of the
experience, does not technically count as an evaluation, but it can guide the end of
learners if they feel that their needs were met. Not only can formative assessments be
a “post-test” of sorts regarding needs, but a formative assessment can also ask learners
their thoughts and opinions regarding the format, pacing, and design. Training and
that are the same. Locations change frequently due to availability, times change, and
sometimes participants may change. Formative assessments allow the facilitator to see
what they can change to help provide a better learning experience. A summative
evaluation at the end of the training and professional development experience, such as
a survey or interview may look at the knowledge of content gained throughout the
experience. The results from this feedback can help guide future training and
professional development experiences. Educators are incredibly busy people, and will
be more honest and give appropriate feedback when they are given evaluations they
can complete easily. Short surveys, or short “exit ticket” assessments are most
beneficial for educators in a sense of assessing if they feel their needs were met, and
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
training and professional development fall under a large umbrella. The overall aim
implement both appropriately and correctly. The best way to truly evaluate if
participants have met this goal would be observations. Educators are required to be
evaluated while teaching in their classrooms. These observations can also be a source
development experiences. Observations are the most raw form of evaluation as the
goal is to see if educators can independently and confidently take content into their
classrooms. Using different types of evaluations can give facilitators multiple sources
Education is an amazing career path that allows for growth and knowledge each
practices within education can be powerful experiences that lead to improving our
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RUNNING HEAD: Development of a Personal Philosophy of Training and Professional Development
Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M.C., Norman, M.K. (2010). Seven Research-Based
Principles for Smart Teaching. How Learning Works, 120-153.
Gayle, B.M., Cortez, D., Preiss, R.W. (2013). Safe Spaces, Difficult Dialogue, and Critical Thinking.
International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1-8.
Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., Smith, K.A., (1991). Change. Active Learning: Cooperation in the College
Classroom, 27-35.
Panitz, T. (2014). Collaborative Versus Cooperative Learning – A Comparison of the Two Concepts
Which will Help us Understand the Underlying Nature of Interactive Learning. 1-2.
Queeny. (1995). What is Needs Assessment? Assessing Needs in Continuing Education, 1-25.
Silberman, M. (2015). Active training: A handbook of techniques, designs, case exmples and tips. San
Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Vella, J. (2002). Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach. The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults, 3-27
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