From the Desk of the Director

July 2007

Oceanside Professional Development Center is proud to be one of New York State’s Charter Teacher Centers, established to provide teacher-centered professional development that is linked to local and state initiatives. We are funded annually through a legislative grant during the intensive statewide budget process.

New York State Teacher Centers, a vast, vibrant network of educators including New York State Department of Education representatives, New York Institute of Technology, and NYSUT has grown and changed dramatically over the past 24 years.  We now serve 250,000 teachers throughout New York State. Through the grant, we are charged to deliver state of the art, researched based courses.

Our goal is to develop growth and learning opportunities for teachers at each stage of their professional lives. These are opportunities to be reflective, to learn, teach, and remain expert using the latest and best learning theories and technologies available to us to increase student performance.  When we say “best practice” we mean that our courses are delivered in a manner that utilizes adult learning theory, and that they are able to link outcomes to student learning and/or professional growth.

Every attempt is made to highlight courses that include respect for learning and cultural diversity, brain theory, learning models, best and current teaching methodologies, and technology. We offer resources for teachers on our website, opportunities for teachers to receive grants, to give courses, and materials to borrow. In collaboration with the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, Oceanside Professional Development Center provides  turn-key training, graduate courses as well as certificate and degree programs. In collaboration with the partners of the NYS Teacher Center Network such as MarcoPoloNY, we continue to break ground as we bring you the latest tools and strategies. Be a part of the excitement of lifelong learning.

Betsy C. Weinman, Director
Oceanside Professional Development Center

Why Professional Development?

In our bargaining agreement we have professional development hours. The state had mandate professional development to the tune of 175 hours every five years for all teachers certified after February 2, 2004. It may be time consuming and costly, but professional development has always been necessary in our field in order to help us prepare students for an ever-changing world.

Teachers have always known that on-going training in content and practice enhances our performance. We knew it twenty years ago when Oceanside became a charter member of the New York State Teacher Center movement. We knew it when our union leadership had the foresight to negotiate salary advancement for continued professional growth so many contracts ago. We know it now, when we inspire our students and our own children to become as educated and informed as they can. We reward our students for learning and growing, and the process doesn’t end with the Senior Prom.

On Your Side

The Oceanside Professional Development Center exists to bring the highest quality professional development to our teachers, and the latest ground breaking innovations in education to our teachers. It has been my experience over the past nearly seventeen years that I have been involved with the Teacher Center movement that I work among a team of colleagues in Oceanside who are, naturally, life-long learners. The Staff Development Policy Board has representatives from the union, administration, parents, higher education, and private industry. This collaborative team of representatives meets monthly to work out this thing we call Professional Development.

Doing It Right

Professional Development is a whole discipline in itself. It has its own theorists, doctrines, methodologies and even its own organizations. At the OPDC we strive to follow the rigorous standards set forth by the National Staff Development Council, and organization dedicated to improving staff development for teachers.

Effective Professional Development is:

• Directly focused on directly focused on helping to achieve student learning goals and supporting student learning needs
• A collaborative endeavor – teachers and administrators work together in planning and implementation
• School-based and job embedded
• A long-term commitment
• Differentiated
• Tied to the district goals

Professional Development Should
Happen Through You and Not to You.

Upon scanning the above list, the educational community must take a stake in supporting the above efforts by participating in the following ways:

• Identify student-learning goals by learning to mine the data (go through and understand it) such as school report card, homework, tests, student behaviors, etc. Data are not answers. Data are just starting points for decision-making. Data tells its reader nothing unless the proper questions are asked.
• Become involved in the planning of what goes on My Learning Plan and/or what is offered by the OPDC.
• Professional Development should happen through you and not to you. An annual needs assessment should be thoughtfully completed.  You can express you needs by talking to your Staff Development Policy Board Representative, or by e-mailing the Oceanside Professional Development Center Director.
• Take advantage of grade-level meetings and on-site professional development, which is relevant to your immediate and long-range work.
• All teachers will not benefit from all training. One size does not fit all. It should be targeted to your needs, as well as your learning style. Try a study group, collegial circle, action research, peer coaching, an on-line course, etc. You can be selective, as there is so much from which to choose. You should expect for your training to be interesting and interactive .
• Pay attention to local goals on all levels. There are goals related to curriculum, strategy, and delivery. If you select courses that are relevant to your practice you may find yourself more engaged in the learning, but life-long learners benefit from a wide variety of learning experiences and enjoy new opportunities for learning.

If You Always Do What You Always Did, You Always Get What You Always Got!

Everyone says that we are living in an age of accountability. If so, then the dogma should work both ways.  If existing professional development hasn’t felt fulfilling or satisfying, we need to know. That’s why the OPDC offers structured, standards-based courses based on our Needs Assessment. We believe strongly in assessing workshops and classes based on pre-determined outcomes agreed to by the presenters and deliverers of staff development and the director. We really want to hear your feedback as to whether or not the facilitators met their goals and delivered the information you expected to receive. We cannot hope to grow and learn if we cannot reflect on our activities. It’s hard to evaluate your peers, but that is not the goal of the Outcome Survey. You are not evaluating the person, but the course. Didn’t you ever teach a class and wish you knew if you were successful, if you fulfilled your objectives? The Outcomes Planner developed by the OPDC helps instructors identify their objectives. It is available on-line at www.oceansidepdc.com

This year we continue to work collaboratively with the Office of Curriculum on Mentoring and look forward to another rewarding year supporting you, our teachers.

Betsy Weinman

There are some broad categories of Professional Development, all of which are meaningful.  Here is a small sampling: