Put the Phones Away: I Have 50 Slides I Want to Read to You

The norm said no phones. The PD design said otherwise.

Educators walk into PD with stories. They are not blank slates. Their lived experiences shape how they show up for students every day. And if we are honest, many of those experiences come from professional learning that didn't respect their time, their expertise, or their reality.

Slide 4 gave the PD norms but then the audience was read what could have been an email. Let's get right into it.

There are a few things I paid attention to during PD as a teacher: the design, the content, and whether any of it was actually built for me. Often times those presenting spoke at the audience and not with us. Their expertise was the star of the show, not what they thought I wanted to know. When it became my turn to design and deliver, I had to guarantee that these things would never show up in what I put in front of teachers.

Districts and organizations lean into brand colors and templates. Clean. Controlled. That works for leadership spaces where the audience understands the need for alignment. As a teacher, I was not thinking about any of that. I was thinking about my students and what I needed for the next day. So when the design didn't speak to that, I checked out before the first slide finished loading.

I hoped for creativity, even within structure. Something that spoke to where I actually was. Something that felt like somebody thought about me when they built it because both things could absolutely be true.

Being a teacher did not mean speak down to me. It meant design something that respected the complexity of what I do every day.

When I stepped into my district leadership role as a Middle School Math Specialist, I had to design for the same audience I had been part of for 12 years. I kept coming back to what my friend and mentor Tania modeled during our STEM PLCs when I was teaching 7th grade math. Her openings were always unexpected. I remember one where we used celebrity baby names and pinned them on the backs of colleagues who had the matching parent. It was never a routine turn and talk.

The work in those meetings always translated back to my classroom. It was not a heavy lift. Data meetings helped me form small groups that same week. District updates were practical. My time was respected. So when it was my turn, I pulled from those experiences.

One of the best PD experiences we designed when I was a middle school math specialist was Fly High with Middle School. We dressed as flight attendants, and our consultants, Dr. Wil Simpson and Dr. Whitney Hanna, served as the pilots. Teachers went through TSA screening and used boarding passes to move through the day. #ExperienceLoading

The morning focused on a required session. The afternoon offered choice sessions built from what teachers said they needed:

• Do Now & Be Done With It was created because teachers said their do nows were turning into mini lessons.

• I Got Time Today focused on how to create small groups during the class block

• Double Up reminded teachers to not water down the content because of their apprehension #message! and this session was followed up by the coaches in their PLCs

• Coach or First Class helped teachers see the difference between being rated proficient or distinguished in their instructional actions

• For Real, For Real highlighted teachers who modeled taking Carnegie Learning "off the page" to create learning experiences for students

Each session was led by a campus coach. It was not about standing and delivering. It was work time. The bar was high, and the feedback reflected that.

When it was time to design for leaders, I was given a Saturday and told to make it work. The focus was connecting our HQIM math curriculum to teacher appraisal. The audience included everyone from the Superintendent to campus coaches.

We built the day around a sports theme. Football was the anchor, but we made sure to include soccer and basketball so everyone felt represented. We invested in the space. Each table reflected the theme. I showed up as a referee. There was breakfast, coffee, and energy in the room before the day even started.

Leaders engaged in the work. They played Rock Paper Scissors Math, the same activity teachers use with students, because we needed them to feel what it's like to be in the learning before they could evaluate it. The conversation that followed was different because of it. They weren't just talking about instruction. They were talking from inside it. And when we closed the day with appreciation, it felt earned. People had given up a Saturday, and the day honored that.

When I look back on all of it, none of it worked because of a theme. It worked because it was designed with people in mind. Teachers and leaders. Their time, their reality, their responsibility to show up for students.

Teachers didn't leave with slides. Leaders didn't leave with talking points. They left with something they could use.

That's the difference.

Professional development that sticks is not about how it looks in the moment. It's about what stays when teachers are in front of students and when leaders are making decisions that impact them.

Because both walk into PD with stories. The question is what they walk out with.

You talk at teachers and not with them and then wonder why what you're serving doesn't stick. - Shikah Kofie