What is Teacher Professional Learning?

Teacher Professional Learning (PL) generally refers to the ongoing process of enhancing teachers' knowledge, skills, and practices to improve their effectiveness in the classroom. It encompasses a range of formal and informal activities that teachers engage in to improve their instructional practices, such as attending workshops, participating in online courses, collaborating with colleagues, and reflecting on their teaching. But, what about teachers who are already considered highly effective in their craft? How do they benefit from teacher PL? 

Yes, PL as an essential component of improving educational outcomes, enables teachers to stay up-to-date with the latest research, pedagogical techniques, and instructional strategies. But in order for teachers across all phases and stages of their school career to find value in professional learning opportunities, PL must get to the heart of what teachers do everyday which is to make in advance and in the moment decisions about how to teach in ways that recognize and support every student all the time. 

Effective PL opportunities must create collaborative learning spaces that afford teachers opportunities to analyze research based strategies in conjunction with analysis of their own instruction and impact on student outcomes. Ongoing professional learning that engages teachers in sustained job-embedded learning relevant to their instructional practice is a critical element of continuous improvement no matter what stage a teacher may be in their career. 

What issues are teachers dealing with in the classroom?

Some of the common issues that teachers may face in the classroom include:

  1. Managing classroom engagement: Teachers may face challenges in managing student engagement in the classroom. This can include dealing with disruptions, distractions, and conflicts among students.

  2. Teaching all students: Every student is a diverse learner in their own right.  Students cannot be categorized as a homogenous learning population.   All students have different learning styles, abilities, and backgrounds, which can pose challenges for teachers in meeting the diverse needs of their students. This is inclusive but not limited to students with special needs, English language learners, and students from different cultural or socio-economic backgrounds.

  3. Leveraging curriculum and instruction: Teachers may face challenges in delivering curriculum and instruction effectively to engage students and facilitate learning. This can include making adaptive instructional decisions to meet the needs of all learners, determining appropriate scaffolds and supports, monitoring and adjusting to the shifts in educational standards.

Can the Teaching Lab model fix some of these issues?

Teaching Lab seeks to dramatically improve instruction through PL based on great instructional materials, teacher-led communities, and ongoing structures for learning and improvement. 

We work with school, district, and state leaders to create the instructional systems necessary to support these changes. We are working with 5,000 educators across 30 school systems, who are leading instruction for over 316,000 students. 

Although Teaching Lab adapts our support to local contexts, our partners all use high-quality instructional materials because curriculum lays the foundation for: 

  1. Ensuring all students meet high standards

  2. Shifting the paradigm of teacher professional learning, as it allows teachers to focus less of their time on lesson planning and more time innovating and differentiating for students.

  3. Improving teacher practice, as research shows that when teachers study their curriculum, they are more likely to improve their practice and student learning.

Partner with Teaching Lab

If your school or district is ready to partner with us, you should contact our Program Team at info@teachinglab.org. Come join us as we plan to fundamentally shift the paradigm of teacher professional learning to achieve educational equity.