Professional Development- What do teachers need?

As I researched the topic this week, I reflected on my own experiences with professional development through my years of teaching and realized that I have had the gamut of professional development opportunities from engaging and enlightening to some that were a down right waste of time.  What is it that makes professional development successful?  These are my ideas:

Teachers need time- Whether attending a excellent workshop, an inspiring class or listening to a dynamic speaker on topics that are relevant and authentic, every teacher needs time to process the information and work out a plan as to how to integrate it within their classroom.  Too many times I have participated in professional learning and then not given the time to understand how this new learning would look like in my class and evaluate whether the concept could or would be effective to improve student learning.  Typically I attend the professional development, have good intentions of figuring how it would work in my class, and then never having the time to actually do that- only to be forgotten and thought about once in a while when the topic comes up-  (oh, ya- I remember something about that....) 

Teachers need a focus for professional development that is geared towards the staff or school needs- I think it would be beneficial to focus on only one or two issues throughout the year.  Jumping around on professional development topics throughout the year becomes too overwhelming and tends to make me "tune out".

Teachers need PD that is ongoing- At my school next year, we are going to have PD opportunities once a month for the staff.  Once a month, half a day will be used for School of Faith and the other half (or just an hour) will be used for professional learning.   In our current situation we have the typical two days of PD before school starts in August.  One day in the fall and one day in the spring and then one or two days at the end of the year in May.  A couple of other days might be thrown in the year on random topics that may or may not be relevant.  I think that with PD opportunities that are closer together in time and focused more on relevant, connected topics effective learning experiences are more likely to take place.

Teachers need time in their classroom- This is a big one for me.  I know that being forced to go to meetings knowing that I have a list of 50 things to do in my classroom does not give me the right mindset to discuss "What makes an effective teacher?" or other non specific, irrelevant topics.    I know that an effective teacher is prepared for her students and sitting idly listening passively is not getting those items checked off.  I think scheduling professional development and giving teachers time to work in their classrooms would be greatly appreciated and lead to a more interactive learning environment.

Researching some key elements that make effective professional development has given me a lot to think about when planning and preparing for next year.  Using the ideas listed above as well as the relevant research will give me a good starting point.