Move Staff Development Into The Global World

Move staff development into the global world

The way public school educators respond to emerging information technologies will be the defining event for public education over the next decade. I have little doubt of this. I do worry, however, whether public schools have the capacity to take advantage of the revolution going on around them — a revolution that is affecting not only the way students learn, but also the way our society thinks about information and about learning. The reason I worry is that most public schools are organized along bureaucratic lines, and bureaucracies are much better at suppressing revolutions than taking advantage of them. If schools are to develop the capacity to respond to this revolution, they must first be transformed into learning organizations. Encouraging and supporting this transformation should

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From The Field

Carolyn McKanders

Use a holistic approach

“I HOPE AND BELIEVE that professional development will become more holistic, impacting teachers and other adults who work in schools mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s a matter of helping them connect to their own passions, life’s purpose, and unique gifts — what I call navigating their own internal terrain. Once that happens, they are much more likely
to be able to effectively collaborate with each other in order to improve teaching and learning. That’s because people who understand themselves, who are emotionally balanced, and who are spiritually grounded can much more easily access their own resourcefulness and the resourcefulness of others. They’re not as likely to become threatened by, say, diversity, or become defensive when someone disagrees with them. They’re better able to handle the tension that’s naturally created by collaboration.

“Professional developers need to own this kind of holistic approach and structure the professional development environment so that it provides opportunities not just for the important work of collaboration, but also for reflection, meditation, and even physical exercise. It’s a wise investment in human resources that, in the end, will improve teaching and learning.”

Carolyn McKanders is an educational consultant specializing in individual, group, and organizational development, and a family and women’s counselor. She also has worked as a Detroit Public Schools teacher, counselor, and staff developer. You can contact her at kmckanders@aol.com.