Professional Development Made Easy

It's a teacher's nightmare. You wake up one day and realize your credential is about to expire. As a home schooling teacher, there was not a required number of professional development hours I needed to complete each year. Nor was I privy to the workshops and seminars I might have had access to through the public school system.  As I tried to find a way to fulfill the forty-five hour requirement, I remembered why I had been putting it off: such activities never occur at convenient times. However, letting my license expire would cause bigger headaches down the road. Whatever training I found would need to satisfy two requirements: flexible scheduling and a low price tag.  My quest led me to an array of options that I didn’t know existed. Before you enroll, it is wise to be sure that a course will be accepted by your state.

An Online Course With Feedback

On a tip from the state licensing department, my first stop was the PBS TeacherLine website. With courses for teachers across the educational spectrum, this was the most comprehensive offering I found. Most courses are completed online; mine was a thirty-hour writing class which lasted for six weeks. What sets this format apart from some other online formats is that PBS TeacherLine arranges for qualified instructors to provide personalized feedback to your questions and assignments throughout the course. It is also possible to interact with fellow “classmates" through a dedicated chat room. Several well-known colleges work with PBS to offer graduate credit as well. At the end I felt the money was well-spent.

Focusing on Math, English and Social Studies

With a large chunk of the hours completed, I began scouring the Internet for other options that might be less expensive. Late one evening, I clicked on the website for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. I looked into their E Workshops and E Seminars and discovered you don’t have to be a member to take their courses. While there is a fee for most of these, it is still quite affordable. Similar professional development programs are available from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the National Council for Social Studies. If you have a local chapter, summer is a prime time to take advantage of on-site workshops.

Some Reputable Sources Might Be Free

The best deal I found was from the National Science Teachers Association. This organization is on a mission to train better science teachers! They offer 90-minute live web seminars on current topics that are applicable to classroom teaching. I logged in and watched as the miracle of the Internet brought an interactive whiteboard and the instructor’s voice into my living room! But what was even more unbelievable was that the seminars were FREE. I signed up for four of them and found the instructors to be knowledgeable about the content, as well as realistic about the challenges faced by a classroom science teacher, i.e. no lab, limited supplies, variety of learning styles and abilities. Although the feedback was not personalized, each instructor tried to answer the most commonly posted questions in real time. You can also communicate directly with the instructor by email after the seminar. 

Professional Development at Local Colleges

If your state only accepts college credit, you still have plenty of choices—they just cost a little more. Nearly every university offers continuing education credit. These range from full semester classes to two day seminars, just type in “continuing education credit.” 

Before You Sign Up

Of course, my quest also led me to several companies offering professional development that sounded . . . not so professional. Although I’m sure many are reputable and deliver a quality product, I would recommend that the buyer beware. My suggestion is to call the company. If there is no customer service phone number, that is a red flag. If there is a live person on the other end of the phone line, ask how the course is conducted, who the instructor is, and what his/her qualifications are. If they can’t answer your questions, that is another red flag. Always ask what you receive upon completion. You will need something tangible to submit with your renewal application. You can even type “reviews of John Doe Company” into an Internet search and read what experience others have had. When in doubt, take down the information and call your state’s licensing department for advice.

No matter how you decide to work on professional development, remember that learning truly is a life-long endeavor. Don’t miss out!