soc+st+PD

__** Social Studies Professional Development **__

Part of our discussion at the March 2011 meeting was a desire to look at quality professional development for our social studies teachers. All districts are facing rather large budget cuts, and there was concern over how that would affect professional development.

A suggestion I had was to open discussion for a document that would reflect what this group sees as quality professional development in social studies - not only what it looks like, but that it is important for our educators to have access to PD. There was interest in having such a document to give strength behind those who wanted to go back to their districts and be able to say "This is what the social studies specialists of the eleven largest school districts in Wisconsin say is important."

To start - please take some time to consider your own PD in your district, and what works for you (as well as what doesn't). Feel free to answer below (although if you answer below, please either put your name, initials, or district there so we know where it's coming from), in an email directly to me (kristen.mcdaniel@dpi.wi.gov ), or in this document (also - name, initials or district).

Things to think about:


 * 1) What does PD in your district look like?
 * 2) How many professional development days do your teachers have, where they can choose to go to a meeting (not planned by the district)?
 * 3) How many PD days/hours are planned out by the district?
 * 4) Is any content-specific PD planned?
 * 5) Is all PD curriculum-driven (writing curriculum maps, determining common assessments, etc)? What are teachers' reactions to this?
 * 6) What is working?
 * 7) What is not working?