Teacher adoption requires repeated exposure across existing institutional settings

Evidence

Getting involved in a place-based education program is a form of professional development for teachers-and it’s often difficult to get overworked teachers to volunteer for professional development. It’s helpful to approach professional development keeping in mind that old marketing adage that says “the customer needs four or five exposures to the product before she’ll buy it.” Professional development needs to happen in many guises over long periods of time. Rather than try to create new committees or schedule new meetings, try to piggyback onto existing structures. The practice of piggybacking can make it easier to get new teachers involved and give staying power to long-term efforts. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education, 94 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Research by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation concluded that short-term teacher trainings didn’t translate into better environmental teachers or improved student behaviors in school. They now have a two-day minimum for curriculum trainings and most of their teacher workshops are a week long. Also, they realized that residential training programs intimidated teachers who weren’t early adopters, so they decided to offer multiday, but not overnight, programs closer to the urban areas where many teach. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education, 103 (#builds-on, via linked claim)

By implementing pieces of these six strategies consistently over a number of years, your school and community will start to look different. The process can be likened to the geological concept of punctuated equilibrium, which suggests that change happens little by little over a long period of time and then, all at once, there’s a major shift. Or maybe it’s like moving past the tipping point on a pair of scales— you don’t see much change, and then the balance shifts to the other side. My advice: Don’t get frustrated in the early stages. Assume a time frame of three to five years at a minimum, and learn to love the process as much as the product. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education, 119 (#builds-on, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Short teacher trainings fail to produce durable environmental teaching proficiency — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 103; Durable community-school change appears abruptly after years of slow accumulation. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 119; Effective teacher professional development requires repeated varied exposure and piggybacks onto existing structures. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 94 (+1 more)

Related

• Effective teacher professional development requires repeated varied exposure and piggybacks onto existing structures. (similarity 0.91)
• Classroom visits are the most effective form of teacher professional development (similarity 0.87)
• Short teacher trainings fail to produce durable environmental teaching proficiency (similarity 0.85)
• Teacher-led workshops and classroom visits outperform expert-led training for changing teaching practice. (similarity 0.81)
• Durable community-school change appears abruptly after years of slow accumulation. (similarity 0.79)
• Place-based educators succeed by augmenting existing curricula rather than adding new content. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Effective teacher professional development requires repeated varied exposure and piggybacks onto existing structures. #corroborates (0.95) — David Sobel, Place-Based Education, 94