To be a teacher means being a life-long learner, by disposition and by program and licensing requirement. Every day I learn a something new in my conversations with children (“My mommy has a baby in her tummy”), colleagues and online. Attending workshops, webinars, and conferences are other ways I keep learning and developing professionally. Professional learning communities and my individual reading contribute a lot to my understanding of how children learn and how to teach them. I appreciate all these learning settings and relationships for different reasons, in addition to the new understandings I gain from them. Scroll down to the kind of PD you’d like to hear about and help me learn more by adding your perspective in a comment at the bottom.

As a country we need to make professional development more affordable for the individual and the institutions by increasing spending on early childhood education. Most early childhood educators and programs, in my experience, do not have a budget to pay for travel and hotel costs in addition to conference registration fees and may choose other ways to provide professional development.  (See my suggestion for making conference attendance possible, below.) Even paying for an additional staff member to fill in for teachers meeting with another teacher, or closing the program doors to children for an afternoon or a day is out of reach financially for many early childhood education programs. What steps can you take to raise awareness about the need for more financial support for programs that serve young children? 

Conferences

I still remember the rush of being in a convention center hallway for the first time—as sessions ended people streamed past me, people from all over, all early childhood educators like me! It was stimulating and empowering to go from the sometimes isolating daily work as a family home child care provider, to being immersed in learning experiences with so many other adults.

Conferences continue to be a source of affirmation for me, in addition to the concentrated expertise available through sessions with experts who might be family home child care providers, kindergarten teachers, researchers, science teachers, or one of the many other kinds of educators in early childhood. Next week I have to choose between participating in my local NAEYC affiliate conference, my state science teachers association conference, and the national NAEYC conference! All three conferences have been worthwhile experiences in the past.

Conferences may be the site of annual meetings of smaller professional groups, such as the NAEYC Early Childhood Science Interest Forum.

The cost of attending a conference is a challenge for early childhood educators. Instead of writing off conferences entirely, consider making a five-year plan to attend one conference. Find out the likely dates and locations of the conferences of your local, state and national professional organizations by checking the websites or emailing the conference committee. NSTA has “area” conferences in addition to a national conference. NAEYC has annual conferences and institutes, and state and local affiliates hold conferences. Talk with your administrator about budgeting for teachers to attend at least one day of a local, state or national conference. Some programs send a few teachers each year.

Read more from NAEYC about the reasons to attend a conference .

Workshops

A two or three hour workshop is much easier to schedule than 2-3 days away from work for a conference. The concentrated focus on a single topic helps me consider my own practice in a specific area. There is time to discuss, ask questions, and often engage in a hands-on experience so we can test the ideas for our own classrooms. Workshops can be conveniently scheduled just for one program, which allows an easy flow of conversation specific to that site. Workshops may bring early childhood educators from various settings together—an experience that broadens our view of our community. I have learned ways to support child behavior and many practical tips from early childhood educators who happened to sit at the same table.

Webinars

Alone with my computer, or in the midst of family activity, I can join a webinar online and get an hour of professional development about almost any topic important in early childhood science education. A variety of experts, sponsored by a variety of organizations and companies, share their knowledge. I can ask questions as the webinar happens “live,” or view the webinar later in short chunks of time as I have time. I have to make a bigger effort to relate webinar content to my own practice than content from a workshop where I’m in the same room as the presenter and other participants. Webinars offer many choices of content and presenter.

Professional learning communities (PLTs)

Discussion groups that support learners around a particular topic, PLTs depend on good facilitation to stay on topic. Participants come ready to contribute their ideas and understanding after reading the selected article, or book chapter, and reflecting on their own practice. This seems like the expertise of the webinar experience combined with the discussion-with-colleagues experience of a workshop. Read more about PLTs in the November 2015 Young Children, in “How a Professional Learning Community Changed a Family Child Care Provider’s Beliefs and Practices” by Jennifer Gerdes and Terri Jefferson.

Conversation with colleagues

Intermittent, fragmented and never long enough is how I experience my conversations with colleagues at school—until the teachers’ planning meeting. Even the short, hurried exchanges can give us insight about a child’s behavior or a new way to manage a logistical challenge, but setting aside time to focus on what we want to do and why, discuss it and plan a path and some alternatives, is much more productive. No one knows your work or shares your goals like the people you work with every day!

Conversations with children

Children reveal what is important to them as we talk. I can use this information to design lessons that engage children and scaffold their understanding. A lunchtime conversation about edamame revealed that children did not recognize this “green soybean” as a seed. Planting beans is now on my list for the spring garden.

Social/emotional development is also revealed in conversations. Yesterday three giggling children were pretending to be kitties and they were “Bad kitties.” I asked them what a bad kitty does that makes them bad, and the children answered “Because they steal things.” One child gave a very articulate explanation of what stealing is. It is so interesting to learn that their imaginative play can coexist with their very accurate description of reality. They knew that stealing is bad, but it felt delicious to pretend that they had stolen something. Where do you think I should go with this understanding? How should I use it in planning lessons?

Individual reading and podcasts

Professional journals such as, Science and Children, Young Children, and Teaching Young Children (TYC), are available online in addition to in-print. Some content is free to all, not just for members. The best articles take me into the world of the authors and help me think about how the greater concerns of the early childhood education world apply in my work. I read an article while waiting for my computer to boot up, dinner to cook, or my family to get ready. If an article gets me thinking about my own practice, I print a copy to share at work. This helps me remember to put my learning into practice.

One of my favorite “in between” reads is Science News, https://www.sciencenews.org/ when I’m reading for pure learning about all kinds of scientific work. Podcasts are another way to hear discussion by experts about topics of your choice — Tech Tuesday gal and guys on The Kojo Nnamde show, or the many voices sharing their knowledge on NAEYC Radio.

Coursework

Coursework towards a secondary program degree, and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) are also professional development but are usually described as “coursework,” not “PD.”

 Of all the continuing education possibilities available, I’m glad I have the resources to attend one conference every year for the many choices of sessions, and the extended networking that happens when I reach out in conversation to the person next to me. Hope to see you there!