Module 2

Professional Development of Mathematics

Teacher
What is teacher professional development?
Teacher professional development is any type of continuing
education effort for educators. It’s one way teachers can
improve their skills and, in turn, boost student outcomes.
Learning can take place in formal or informal settings. Formal settings
include conferences, courses, seminars, retreats and workshops.
Informal opportunities for teacher professional development include
independent research or investigation, peer learning initiatives or even
just chatting with a colleague in the staff room.
Professional development for teachers takes place on a number of
different levels: district-wide, among teachers in a given school, or even
on a classroom or individual basis.
Why is teacher professional development
important?

• It affects student learning

• It encourages the success of new teacher
• It promotes a growth mindset
Professional Development Tips for Teachers
A professional educator is always learning and growing their craft. They are on an
endless journey where they are always looking for new ideas or teaching strategies,
ways to improve their skills, or new information that will help their students to
succeed.
It takes a lot of hard work and effort to be a professional educator. It takes time to
go to conferences and serve on committees, or to decide on continuing on the
education path, if necessary. It requires effort to go that extra mile for the students
who need it, and it takes patience to continually grow and truly understand your
craft as a teacher.
The rewards of being an educator go to the professionals who are willing to go that
extra mile or use their spare time to help others. Here are a few professional
development tips to help you continue to grow and become that professional
educator that you deserve to be.
Promote Student Growth
As a professional educator, it’s essential that you take the time
to promote student growth. This means the following.
•Set high expectations for student achievement.
•Use the most-recent educational technology.
•Plan instructional strategies.
•Apply higher-order thinking skills.
•Use cooperative learning.
•Apply classroom management techniques
Make Use of Your Time
All too often, teachers forget how important their instructional time really is. While
six to seven hours may seem like a lot of time to get things done, you have to
remember that a lot of that time isn’t instructional. When you have those blocks of
time with your students, you must make good use of it. Here’s what you should be
doing.
•Focusing your students’ attention.
•Using materials and technology appropriately.
•Maintaining a flow or rhythm in the classroom.
•Evaluating classroom instruction.
•Differentiating instruction according to student ability.
•Optimizing the time for the task at hand.
Improve Your Performance
The essence of a teacher is to help others. This is why it may be so hard for educators to look at
themselves to see what they can improve upon. Here are a few tips to help you improve your
performance as a teacher.
Read – Join a professional scholarly journal, go online and read educational blogs, or read some
literature on education. Knowledge is power.
Participate – Go to educational conferences or workshops, or attend online seminars.
Participation in these types of event will make you a more effective teacher.
Join a Group – There are many groups you that you can join, online and off. All of these groups
are a great source of information as well as inspiration. You can learn a lot from other
professionals who have years of experience.
Observe Your Peers – An effective teacher takes the time to observe other teachers. These
teachers can be a great source of knowledge for you. You can find a new strategy to teach
or behavior management plan to implement.
Share – Once you have improved your performance, you should share your knowledge with
others. Contribute to your profession, and others will be thankful.
Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks
Oftentimes, teachers get so comfortable in their daily lives that
they forget to take risks. A risk may be trying that teaching
strategy that you have always wanted to try or implementing
that piece of educational technology that you have heard so
much about. Before you try something new in your classroom,
make sure that you do your research about it. This will help you
take that risk. Try observing other teachers who may have
already implemented that strategy or piece of technology.
An effective teacher isn’t afraid to talk to other educators and
learn from them. They are willing to continue to learn their craft
and take risks. They take the time to promote student growth as
What Makes a Great Teacher
•expert communication skills
•superior listening skills
•deep knowledge and passion for their subject matter
•the ability to build caring relationships with students
•friendliness and approachability
•excellent preparation and organization skills
•strong work ethic
•community-building skills
•high expectations for all
1. The ability to develop relationships with their students
The most frequent response is that a great teacher develops
relationships with students. The research literature agrees with them:
Teachers need to be able to build trusting relationships with students in
order to create a safe, positive, and productive learning environment.
For example, a student in Boston told us that great teachers are “Willing
to listen to students when there is a problem.”
2. Patient, caring, and kind personality
Personality characteristics related to being a compassionate person and
having a sensitivity to student differences, particularly with learners, was
the second most frequently reported quality. Again, there is research to
support that teacher dispositions are strongly related to student
learning and development.
3. Knowledge of learners
This is a broad category that incorporates knowledge of the cognitive, social and
emotional development of learners. It includes an understanding of how students
learn at a given developmental level; how learning in a specific subject area typically
progresses like learning progressions or trajectories; awareness that learners have
individual needs and abilities; and an understanding that instruction should be
tailored to meet each learner’s needs. One student eloquently described it as: “The
teacher understands the pace and capacity of the student.”
4. Dedication to teaching
Dedication refers to a love of teaching or passion for the work, which includes
commitment to students’ success. Responses often referred to loving the subject
matter or simply being dedicated to the work. To a student, this means a teacher
should be “always willing to help and give time.”
5. Engaging students in learning
Students also said that teachers should be able to engage and motivate students to
learn. Researchers talk about three types of engagement that are required for
students to learn: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. Survey respondents mostly
focused on making content interesting and the ability to motivate students to learn.
Continuing professional development, or CPD, is the ongoing process of developing, maintaining and
documenting your professional skills
The process of CPD is designed to help you identify and act on your own
development needs.
The Continuous Professional Development Cycle (see figure) shows that
professional development is, like much other learning, best thought of as a
circular series of activities. The process moves from identifying your development
needs through planning and then carrying out your learning activities, to
reflecting on your learning, and then applying it and sharing it with others.
Continuing professional development (CPD) is an important part of teacher
education. It helps the teachers to keep their professional knowledge and
skills updated. The new generations have a different approach to learning
than the previous generations. CPD helps the teachers to learn new
techniques in teaching students of this generation. It helps the teachers to
grow professionally, at the same time, improve their classroom skills.
Teachers who have been in the profession for many years are usually
reluctant to change their teaching styles. CPD will let them stay in touch
with the latest developments in the education sector and help them to
change their way of teaching. Here are some reasons why CPD is so
important for teachers.
Encourages exchange of knowledge
CPD encourages teachers to exchange their knowledge and ideas with the
other teachers in school. This way, the senior teachers can act as mentors to
the new ones and the new teachers can provide the senior teachers with the
up-to-date knowledge on the latest teaching styles and modes.
Improves communication with other schools
CPD allows teachers to meet colleagues from other schools. This also
increases knowledge sharing and they learn new teaching techniques. It
improves the quality of education by sharing knowledge.
CPD courses are flexible
You can take the traditional classroom courses or take online courses as well.
So, you have the flexibility of learning from home. There are lots of online
materials available to develop teaching skills.
Get better career opportunities
The CPD courses help to get promotions and have a better career. CPD
courses are relevant to your professional works, so you will learn lots of
things that will improve your professional skills.
It is an evidence of competence
Completing CPD courses gives proof of your competence. So, it
helps you to stand out from the rest of your colleagues. You will
become more competent than the others. It also tells that your
knowledge is up-to-date.
CPD adds to the skills and knowledge you already have. It helps
you to be a better teacher. You can perform competently as a
teacher and meet the expectations of your students and
employers.One note of concern is that sometimes its hard to find a
good trainer for the CPD courses. Competent trainers are
necessary to develop the skills of teachers; otherwise, the CPD
courses won’t achieve the outcome it is supposed to achieve. CPD
has no barrier in terms of age or seniority. So, if you are in the
education sector, you must take CPD courses.