Professional Days - What do Teachers do?

[Sliver]

So school started a month ago and my kids already get their second professional day of the year this Friday.

What do teachers do on professional days? Are they pretty slack, or are they a valuable tool for teachers? Is attendance mandatory? I know my uncle was a teacher and he always skipped them.

Just wondering...

[nik-]

probably decompress haha

[normtwofinger]

You have kids?

[Ashartus]

Attendance is mandatory and a teacher could get in a lot of trouble for skipping one without a good reason. Like any other regulated profession teachers have to have a certain number of professional development hours per year to remain licensed. From what I've heard (my wife is a teacher and I know several others) they generally involve workshops, planning meetings, and sometimes team-building exercises; the quality varies from school to school depending on the administration.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Sliver

So school started a month ago and my kids already get their second professional day of the year this Friday.

What do teachers do on professional days? Are they pretty slack, or are they a valuable tool for teachers? Is attendance mandatory? I know my uncle was a teacher and he always skipped them.

Just wondering...

I think it depends on the principal at the individual school. My wife is a teacher, and her principal always schedules a 7:30 staff meeting on professional development days. The general impression I get is they cram the useless meetings into that one day instead of spreading them out over 3-4 weeks like most jobs.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

You have kids?

Haha, yeah. I don't seem like the type?

[undercoverbrother]

I have no problem with professional days for teachers. Having volunteered in my boy's K class last year, I would hope they get a free day on the pi##.

Teaching is a tough job and not one I could do.

[Rathji]

Isn't PD days where the teacher porn comes from?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Attendance is mandatory and a teacher could get in a lot of trouble for skipping one without a good reason. Like any other regulated profession teachers have to have a certain number of professional development hours per year to remain licensed. From what I've heard (my wife is a teacher and I know several others) they generally involve workshops, planning meetings, and sometimes team-building exercises; the quality varies from school to school depending on the administration.

Yeah when they have seminars downtown teachers simply can't skip out. My wife takes a lot of weekend workshops as well and generally works a lot harder than I do for her paycheck.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Yeah when they have seminars downtown teachers simply can't skip out. My wife takes a lot of weekend workshops as well and generally works a lot harder than I do for her paycheck.

Why would you work at all for her paycheck?

[albertGQ]

They go paint balling with bull semen

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Isn't PD days where the teacher porn comes from?

No, those are DP days.

[polak]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

They go paint balling with bull semen

Sounds like the Stampede

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Why would you work at all for her paycheck?

Sigh. You know what I meant.

[Locke]

They probably sit around playing beer pong all day.

I know I would.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by getbak

No, those are DP days.

I'll admit it... I laughed.

But really I can't imagine they're all that different from the PD days I have to go to (Team building, motivational speakers, workshops). If they're at all like me they'd probably rather be working... but who knows maybe unlike mine theirs actually do some good.

[Misterpants]

I'm pretty sure they bust out that giant climbing apparatus and all the crash mats.

[kootenayguy9]

This is what we did during our last Pd Day..............

http://extension.wsu.edu/ahec/trauma...CTraining.aspx

As many as one in four youth will experience a potentially traumatic exposure, and many of these will be multiple or prolonged. The impact of these stressors is far-reaching, and identification of and response to the needs of this population is a challenge, particularly within settings which have historically had less of a primary emphasis on “clinical service”, such as schools and community centers. The ARC Treatment framework is a core-components model developed to provide a guiding framework for thoughtful service provision for complexly traumatized youth and their caregiving systems.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by kootenayguy9

This is what we did during our last Pd Day..............

http://extension.wsu.edu/ahec/trauma...CTraining.aspx

As many as one in four youth will experience a potentially traumatic exposure, and many of these will be multiple or prolonged. The impact of these stressors is far-reaching, and identification of and response to the needs of this population is a challenge, particularly within settings which have historically had less of a primary emphasis on “clinical service”, such as schools and community centers. The ARC Treatment framework is a core-components model developed to provide a guiding framework for thoughtful service provision for complexly traumatized youth and their caregiving systems.

That's an awful lot of words to say 'identify which kids need therapy'

[Zevo]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Attendance is mandatory and a teacher could get in a lot of trouble for skipping one without a good reason. Like any other regulated profession teachers have to have a certain number of professional development hours per year to remain licensed. From what I've heard (my wife is a teacher and I know several others) they generally involve workshops, planning meetings, and sometimes team-building exercises; the quality varies from school to school depending on the administration.