The professional development area is somewhat of a sore point with me as I feel this is often the most neglect area of education (at least at my Site). Often what happens is a new and innovative idea or software will come within adminstrative sight and will try to be implemented. The down side to this is there seems to be no effort to develop a program to assist teachers in implimenting the program. An example of this is when our Site spent about $130,000 last year for computers and SuccessMaker software. Some teachers received only one computer while others received as many as four. The budget allowed for 1 and a half days of training on the software. While it has only been one year since the implimentation, I can see the software being used less. My contention is that if staff development had been more intense, many more teachers would still be willing to use the software as their comfort level would be higher.

At times, I feel the staff development is left up to the individual to seek out what interests the perosn and if they so choose, share with their peers.


This week has been spent developing my projects and responding to my peers.