The best CPD I've ever had...

There are many claims made by teachers about Twitter.  Something that I've seen tweeted a few times is that Twitter is 'the best CPD I've ever had.'  As someone who now provides CPD for a living I always find that statement very concerning.

However, I think that part of the reason that Twitter is a useful source of CPD is that it is immediate, often focused on a topic of immediate relevance to the tweeter, and can lead to a sustained conversations.  The fact that so many teachers spend Mondays (#asechat), occasional Tuesdays (#sciteachjc) , Wednesdays (#InthePicture) and Thursdays (#ukedchat) taking part in twitter chats shows how valuable teachers find this.  Not to mention the impromptu discussion of pedagogy, education policy etc that take place at other times of day (and night).

However, I do wonder if these learning conversations could be migrated into the 'real' world.  At work, we have a Journal club. Once a month a few of us meet together to discuss a paper from educational research, and consider its relevance to us, and the teachers we work with. We usually meet over lunch, and spend about half-an-hour chatting around the paper. I've found it really beneficial to have this space to think more deeply about teaching, and CPD provision, with colleagues.  As with teaching, during the course of a normal working day, usually it's hard to make time for professional conversations, so making time for journal club is great.

Which made me wonder if it would be possible to develop something similar in science (or other) departments.  Think about the conversations that take place in your prep room or staff room. In my experience it's rare for professional learning conversations to take place day-to-day in schools/colleges. You're so busy with the day-to-day busyness of teaching that it's hard to take a step back to discuss what you're doing, why, and how it could be better.  Even training days / department meetings are often taken over by admin and bureaucracy, not professional development.

To digress slightly...

In one of my previous schools, the science department was split over 3 blocks. Often, you wouldn't see some members of the department from one week to the next. To try and encourage us to get together more often we started 'Cake Friday'. I drew up a rota and each week we would meet together in a room, have cake and chat. (On a recent visit back there, I was pleased to see that it was still going on. A fine legacy I feel.)

Back to twitter chats...

Wouldn't it be great if the professional conversations that teachers have on Twitter (and we have in journal club) could be had in school? 

I was able to talk to a couple of HMIs from Ofsted recently. One of the things that struck me was a comment made that regardless of the grade of the school, they often saw examples of good practice in every school.  However, in some schools, this was in isolated classrooms, and was not shared between staff.  This matched with my experience that teachers don't get the opportunity to discuss their practice together.

A suggestion then, dear reader. If you enjoy the professional development you get from twitter, why not try to do something similar at school.  Take the chat topics and summaries from your favourite chat, and use them to have semi-structured professional conversations in school. Probably not every week, but maybe once a half term. Encourage colleagues to meet together to discuss what they've tried out in the classroom recently, to reflect on their teaching. 

You could even try your own version of cake Friday to ease the flow of conversation.

It could be a great way of developing your own real-life 'best ever CPD'.