Intensive vs. Superficial Training
Ben Johnson, Ed.D.
Former Superintendent of Schools at Standard Fruit Company, a subsidiary of Dole Fresh Fruit International, Ltd
We just saw the Olympic games and witnessed the fastest and the strongest human beings compete for the gold. I know something about the effort required to get to that level. I grew up with the gold fever in swimming and Mark Spitz was my hero. The 30 second race was the culmination of years of training 4-5 hours a day. But as an educator, for some reason we believe that we can make superstars by providing six hours of professional development.
I am reminded of Malcom Gladwell's book, The Outliers. He stated, aside from being born at the right time, or being the oldest in the group, that sheer, determined, dedicated and intense practice was the greatest reason ordinary people became superstars. He calculated that it took about 10.000 hours of this 'intense practice' to get to the 'expert' level (Gladwell, 2008). How do educators get to 10,000 hours with one, two or even three hours of superficial professional development each year?
Rick and Rebecca DuFour had the answer: to get to the 10,000 hours, just embed the training in the day-to-day collaboration with other like-minded professionals. They deliberately called this collaboration ‘Professional Learning Communities’ for this reason. It is the ideal professional development when you have teachers working together to 'practice,' refine, and hone their craft every day. Yet since the day their first book, “Professional Learning Communities at Work,” was written in 1998, they felt compelled to write follow ups in 2008, and 2021, "Revisiting Professional Learning Communities" because the acronym, ‘PLC’ had become synonymous with any teacher collaboration.? For some reason, the title, Professional Learning Community, lost its meaning (DuFour & DuFour, 2008) ?(DuFour, Eaker, Mattos, & Muhammad, 2021).
When I was a swimmer I swam four hours a day, six days a week.? It was intensive. I had a coach that would show me the best way to do the strokes, how to roll into the flip-turn and explode off the wall, and how to pace myself.? As an outside observer, he could see what I was doing right, and what I was doing wrong, and gave me valuable feedback on how I could improve.? I trusted him and listened to his feedback, which was usually encouraging and positive, but sometimes he was frustrated with me.? It always made me a better swimmer.
Traditional teachers don’t have coaches to give them constant feedback and encouragement.? When I first started teaching, I never talked to other teachers about my teaching on a regular basis.? I wish I had taken more advantage of the wisdom and experience of my fellow teachers because what little I did glean, made me a much better teacher sooner than trial and error ever could.? Many of you might have similar experiences.? Besides the walkthrough visit feedback, and the formal observations, most teachers get very little useful feedback about how well they are teaching.? That is what the DuFour’s were trying to change!? Unfortunately, I would venture to say, that even today, 26 years later, fewer schools than we would like, actually do PLC’s the way they were designed, and even fewer schools use PLC as their main professional development.
I’ll be honest, in my career, I have yet to participate in or witness a real PLC, and sadly, when I was the leader of the schools, and tried to get the true PLC working at my schools, I couldn’t get the teachers to catch the vision. ?They would do their meetings and call them PLC’s but little if any professional development occurred. ?I know why my efforts did not succeed.? I tried to make superstars with only one or two hours of superficial training. I told them to do it and showed them how but was inconsistent on following up by visiting their PLC’s and providing feedback.
In conclusion, I propose that the most valuable interaction among professional educators is to have them train each other on new skills and also sharpen their other skills like; classroom management, assessment, (Johnson, Better Questioning for Better Learning: Strategies for Engaged Thinking, 2021), preparing students for college, career and military (Johnson, Teaching Students to Dig Deeper: Ten Essential Skills for College and Career Readiness, 2017) and their differentiation skills.? The school leadership has to be a part of the PLC’s, or they won’t happen.? If you want a high-performing and low-maintenance school team, true PLC’s are how you create the intensive training that creates world class teachers.
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References
DuFour, R., & DuFour, R. (2008). Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work: New Insights for Improving Schools. Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.
DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional Learning Communities at Work. Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.
Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The Story of Success. New York, New York: Little, Brown and Company.
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DuFour, R. D., DuFour R. E., Mattos, M., & Muhammad, A. (2021). Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work: Proven Insights for Sustained, Substantive School Improvement, Second Edition. Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.
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Other Books by Dr. Benjamin Johnson
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