Professional Development: Make It a Priority This Year! – Part 2

This is part two of an article by Melissa Shipman, Executive Director of PACE. Read Part 1 here. Melissa was a teacher of children with special needs for over 10 years, and has served with SHARE Education Services since 2002 as both a full-time and associate education consultant. She now lives in Georgia, USA with her husband and two young girls.

Last week, I shared with you my hectic schedule as a full-time education consultant and the challenge I faced in prioritizing my own professional development. I began describing a framework for you to use in planning for your own professional development for this school year. First, we must identify the outcomes we want for the families we serve. Second, we need to identify the practices that would need to be implemented in order for the outcomes to occur. Third, we need to identify what organizational support is essential to the achievement of the outcomes. This week, we continue our discussion.

4. Educator Knowledge and Skills

Guskey sums up this concept this way: “What must educators know and be able to do to successfully implement the new practices and bring about the sought-after improvements?” In others words, what do YOU as a TCK education consultant need to know and be able to do in order to achieve the outcomes you identified?

Here are some suggestions based on the outcomes I listed in step one:

• I need to be adept at the various means of contact and communication with families. Because technology is changing quickly, I need to maintain a posture of learning and remain flexible related to technology and the many tools available. I also need to regularly reflect on my interpersonal skills to ensure that I maintain strong relationships with families.
• To the extent possible, I need to ensure that families have constructed a carefully considered education plan. I must schedule time to maintain and grow in my knowledge of the education-related challenges that most of the families I support face. I need to stay abreast of trends in education overall, and specifically in the sending countries of my families.

5. Optimal Professional Learning Activities

Guskey writes that only after we have considered all of the above can we select the best professional development activities for ourselves. As TCK education consultants, we ask how, when, and what kind of professional learning activities will help me achieve the outcomes I identified?

Again using the outcomes I listed in step one, you might consider the following:

• I will seek out and make time for training and/or exploration of the online tools being used by our families and my colleagues. This should include systems and programs for scheduling follow-ups and communication with the families I serve.
• I will identify the top three issues/challenges faced by the families I serve and plan some sort of professional learning activity that addresses these topics every year. I will diligently work to create systems that support and require education planning of our families.

So I challenge you, my fellow TCK education consultants, to allot time in your schedule to carefully consider what your professional development priorities will be for the 2015-2016 school year. If you do not make this a priority, I daresay you are not prioritizing excellence and integrity in your role. (Strong words, I know, but I absolutely believe them!)

As the Executive Director of PACE, your professional organization, I would encourage you to make PACE a part of your professional development plan for this year. This isn’t a commercial, I promise! But know that we exist to assist you in this need that we all have and that we understand from our collective decades of experience.

I encourage you to do the following:

1. When you come across the same issue again and again related to TCK education, let us know! Send us an email to ask if we can connect you with any resources or have any webinars or calls coming up related to the topic. We will serve you better if we understand what is on your “radar.”
2. Take a PACE course this year! Or better yet, participate in our “Certification by 2017” cohort that is forming this month.
3. Through some great technology tools, we see that most of you open your PACE emails and read our weekly articles. Keep reading, and know that we are working hard to bring you great and useful information every week!
4. So many of you express frustration at the lack of attention given to educational planning for your families both pre-field and on the field. We believe that educational planning can be a game-changer for families, enabling them to plan and provide for the education of their children on the field with all of the information they need to be successful. Allot time this year to work on this within your organization. PACE offers an online course for you to use with your families called Education Planning for Families in Transition. Interaction International offers an in-person pre-field planning seminar for couples related to education issues. Some organizations try to address this need in-house. Whatever the avenue, make this a priority for the coming year, and we believe that your efforts will be fruitful for the families you serve.

Here’s to a great year of education consulting, and keep in touch!

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