Sunday, February 13, 2011

Professional Development

On Saturday, I went to an AP Economics conference in Los Angeles.  While I'm sure a lot of teachers would hate to have to give up an entire Saturday, to talk about the subject that they taught all week, I'm always excited to go to these conferences and workshops.  Teaching is not something that you ever master.  It is something that you must continue to develop.  The same can be said for our content knowledge.  History and the social sciences is one of the few subject areas that you truly never stop learning in.  New history is constantly being created, new trends develop in the field of political science, and economic models are disproved and new models created.  I am always trying to find some time to read a great book on one of these subjects, but we all know time can be very scarce.

For me, this is what makes these conferences so great.  First, the simple ability to get together with other teachers who are passionate about their subject, and the success of their students is always refreshing.  Plus, for me, still being a relatively new teacher, it is always great to be able to pick their brains for new ideas, strategies they've had success with, and to have the opportunity to bounce ideas off of them.  While it was a long day, I left with many wonderful resources and ideas, and a renewed vigor to be the best teacher that I can possibly be. 

On a similar note, I have also begun to look into some opportunities for this summer, again in the area of professional development.  I have applied/in the process of applying for several week long institutes, and even some 6-8 week fellowships.  Here are a few of the ones that I have applied for or will apply for in the next week or so:

James Madison Fellowship:  A program where they choose a teacher from every state to spend the summer in Washington D.C. with an emphasis on constitutional theory.  If chosen as a fellow, they also award you $24,000 to put towards a Masters program.  The hardest part of the application, however, is finding a master's program I would be interested in that would meet the requirements.

University of Delaware's Masters in Economic Education:  This master's program is largely paid for, but they only select 35 in each cohort.  You would spend 6 weeks for two summers on their campus, and complete the rest of your work during the school year online. 

College Board AP Fellow:  This would award $1000 to go towards attending a week long AP Summer Institute.  Even if I don't get this, I will most likely still attend one for Economics.  The AP Summer Institute I attended for US Government was fantastic, and an invaluable experience.

FTE's Economics for Leaders: A fantastic week long workshop for teachers of economics.  Every time I've been around an economics teacher that has attended one of the FTE's workshops, they all say at some point, you have to try and go to one of these.  They only have five or six sites around the country, and only take 30 at each site, so it is fairly hard to get chosen for these.  I applied for the one in Santa Barbara, CA.

TAH's week long programs:  I also applied for a couple of the TAH seminars (Teaching American History) in political parties and Congress.  They are probably best known by teachers for the grants that many districts have across the country, and very well respected in the social studies field.  Plus, the program is free, and you actually receive a stipend for attending.

I'll keep you posted as I hear back from these great opportunities.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do one or two of them this summer.  I'm positive any of these experiences would make me a better teacher.

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