ISBE teaching standard #11

11. Professional Conduct and Leadership:
The teacher understands education as a profession, maintains standards of professional conduct, and provides leadership to improve student learning and well-being.

Why do teachers need continuing professional development? It may seem that once a person become an educator, he or she knows everything that he or she needs to be successful in this professional career. Most educators have a strong background in the subject matter that they teach. Much time has also been spent in the certification process making sure that educators understand how to teach and learn different skills that will help them in the classroom. Finally, as all educators were once students and now are in the workplace, they should understand how to work cooperatively with their fellow teachers and administrators. There is always room for improvement in every aspect of teaching. This is why teachers need continuing professional development to improve their content knowledge, teaching skills, and their collaborative work with coworkers.

It is the responsibility of an educator to make sure that his or her students receive correct, up to date facts and ideas. There are always advances and new ideas in every subject area. The education that the teacher received, was very good at that time, but especially if the teacher has been teaching a long time, there are new things that are important for students learn. Through continuing professional development, teachers are required to take classes, or go to seminars about their content area. Teachers can take college courses that are very current or go to seminars that discuss important discoveries and ideas in specific subject areas. This helps them to be the best educator that they can be.

New classroom skills are welcomed by any educator no matter how long they have been teaching. Every year, there is a new group of students and no two groups are exactly alike. This diversity requires many different teaching styles and techniques. Continuing professional development for teachers allows them to attend classes or seminars on new and different teaching tools. They can find new activities, lessons, and ways to better educate all students. All of these skills that educators learn can help them in the classroom no matter how much experience they have teaching.

There is a lot of sharing amongst educators in continuing professional education. Whether it is sharing ideas on how to deal with problem children or sharing a new activity, teachers can learn a lot from each other. Through continued professional development, educators get the opportunity to work on their skills in the workplace as well as the classroom. They can learn how to cooperate better with other teacher and administrators by working with them. This will dramatically increase the quality of the students’ education. By having the entire school staff working together cooperatively, the students can have more integrated lessons and have informed teachers.

Continuing professional development for teachers is necessary for all educators. It allows them to keep up to date on their subject matter, learn new teaching techniques and to work more cooperatively with their school staff. All of these things add up to a better education for every student in the school. Continuing professional development is not only helpful to the students’ learning, but it allows the educator to be better prepared for their work and therefore allow the teacher to enjoy his or her work more.