Professional Development

As you know, teachers have professional development throughout the school year. I bet you didn't know that administration has professional development (PD) as well. I as the superintendent have three different kids of PD. First, I have a book study with my principals. Now that I have two schools, I will change how I am doing it, but right now the principals in Hamburg and I are reading,
Crucial Conversations by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan. It was a very good book that the principals and I read in Farragut a few years back. I am enjoying reading it again. Most of these books I buy at www.half.com or www.ebay.com.

The second type of PD for me is classes I take with fellow superintendents. Currently I am taking a class where we listen to books on our iPods. The last book we read or listened to as it were was A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. This book has really made me think of how we instruct in the classroom.

Lastly, are the conventions and workshops that I attend. Coming up next week is the Iowa Association of School Board's conference. If there was only one conference each year that I could attend, this is the one. It provides my attending board members and myself a great look at positive practices in schools around the nation and our state.