PD Participant Responsibility
From LiteracyTentWiki
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1240] Re: interaction questionscontinue...
From: Crystal Hack chack at cait.org
Date: Tue May 22 11:59:02 EDT 2007
Hi All,
I would like to respond to this with something I was thinking about at the
end of last week and I shared this with Jackie.
I have some STRONG feelings about personal responsibility for your own
professional growth. I have read many of the listserv posts...lurked a
bit, like Barbara mentioned, not feeling smart enough to respond (and
maybe smart is not the right word, maybe it is I do not feel confident
enough in my knowledge). In either case, I read several things that I had
strong feelings about and did not respond.
I think I will share my overall thoughts on a reoccurring item I saw
discussed last week--even though I feel a little uncomfortable doing it
since I am not completely confident on how this will be received. Just a
few things I have been rolling around in my mind that I wonder if others
have been thinking about too.
Here goes...I keep reading statements like the following..."What can I do
to get people to participate?" "What tools can I use to get people to
participate?" "How do I develop content that will engage the learner?"
"How do I motivate the unmotivated PD seeker?" "How do I deal with those
who are not interested in at-a-distance professional development?" "How
do I get people more involved?"
Do you see the common term here?????? "How do I..." Let's think about
this, why is it always the PD person's responsibility to make sure the
everything is perfect for the learner? And what if everything is perfect
for the learner/participant and there is still no participation? What if
you are doing everything humanly possibly, you have the best curriculum,
you are an engaging facilitator, and still NOTHING from the participants?
Is that your fault? Do you carry the complete weight for the success or
failure of the PD experience? I think the answer is no, sometimes it is
not a direct reflection on the content, the approach to the content, the
facilitator/trainer/pd provider, but rather on the participants
themselves. I have had great trainings that work well when done for one
group and when done for the next group are complete flops. Is that my
fault? What about the personal responsibility of the learner to seek to
be engaged, to welcome the knowledge, to be motivated as a learner???? I
feel we can build the best PD experience ever and if the participants are
not ready for the knowledge or are in a mood or their working environment
is such that they are not happy, whatever...our wonderful learning
experience can flop and it is not by any fault of ours/the PD provider.
I shared this with someone off the list and because I admit I am a simple
thinker you will hopefully smile when you read this analogy.
You can lead a horse to water but if he does not desire water, you can't
make him drink. No matter if you try to spoon feed him or even dress the
water up in a fancy glass with umbrella, if he is not thristy he will not
drink. My point is...if you don't get it :-) all handholding and engaging
activities won't work if the learner does not want it to. Doesn't matter
if the info to be share is the water to keep the horse alive...if there is
no desire...is it really our fault??? if we do all we can???? Do we have
to go to every length we can to get people interested in PD or should the
learners/participants carry a bulk of the weight in their personal
responsibility for professional growth????
Just curious.
Take care.
Crystal
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1247] Re: Crystal -interaction questionscontinue...
From: Dlhargrove at aol.com Dlhargrove at aol.com
Date: Tue May 22 12:50:40 EDT 2007
You go girl! What ever happened to the self-directed adult learner?
Debra
Debra L. Hargrove, Ed.D.
Coordinator
Florida TechNet
www.floridatechnet.org
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1250] participant interest in PD.
From: K Olson kolson2 at columbus.rr.com
Date: Tue May 22 15:22:32 EDT 2007
Crystal said: "What if you are doing everything humanly possibly, you have
the best curriculum, you are an engaging facilitator, and still NOTHING from
the participants?"
This reflects the finding of the National Reading Panel, when discussing the
teaching of reading, that "the motivation of both students and their
teachers is a critical ingredient of success." I don't think we give this
as much credence as it deserves. I know I always beat myself up mentally if
I get one unfavorable review in a presentation of 60 participants. We talk
about our doing everything humanly possible as if we alone are responsible
for making the participant participate in and enjoy the PD. While it is nice
to think that what we have to say and how we present/facilitate it can solve
all these problems, I agree with Crystal that you can't make that 'horse
drink.' So the question becomes, "Can we put more 'salt' into our PD so
people are thirsty for it?" or do we accept that fact that we can't be all
things to all people?
Kathy Olson
Training Specialist
