Putting the PRO in Professional Learning

If you want to get better, you better love learning, right? If you think about it, learning is essential to the development of pretty much any skill. Riding a bike takes lots of practice in order to be great at riding the bike. Learning to speak a foreign language requires you to practice the language a lot.

If you don't like learning, you probably won't learn the skill.

When I was a kid, I took piano lessons. I hated piano lessons, and thus I didn't practice in between lessons. The end result was, I didn't learn how to play the piano simply because I hated learning about it. This is what I learned. If you're not for the learning, you're not your growth and development either.

Put the PRO in professional learning?

If you want to be a better teacher or leader, professional learning is the only way to make that happen. If you don't like professional learning over a given topic, chances are you will not have the right mindset to openly receive the necessary skills within that topic. In our educational culture, there are places where professional learning has a bad connotation. In some minds, professional learning generates a feeling of angst, frustration or waste of time.

But if we can pull back from the temptation to fall into trap of negative thinking, we are positioned to remember that the love of learning is essential for students to grow and if students love learning, chances are they will grow at a much faster pace compared to other students who do not like learning. The same rule applies to professional learning. If we love learning, we learn more and we learn it faster.

Put the PRO in Professional

To put the PRO in professional learning, the first thing we must recognize is that many times we do not like professional learning because we were already overwhelmed with many tasks or demands. To be honest, I have been in professional learning as a participant, and I didn't want to be there because I had so many other competing demands for my mind.

In essence, my feelings were driving my pro about learning into a con. Let's not forget that feelings come and go, and they negatively and positively impact our perception of professional learning. BUT we have the power to choose whether or not our feelings will dictate our actions toward learning.

Ask yourself as you go into PL

Before you go into professional learning, prepare your mind for positive thinking with these proactive learning questions.

1. What is the learning target in this learning opportunity?

2. What deficits do I currently have that I need to overcome as a result of this training?

3. What am I currently doing right now that I can tie directly to this learning?

4. When others are overwhelmed, or aggravated about the learning, how can I be a source of encouragement to help them put the pro in professional learning?

5. How can I be an advocate about the importance and benefits of professional learning in our school?
   

Put the PL in PLC

Many schools claim to be a PLC or professional learning community. If we truly function as a PLC, we should ask ourselves this question. Are we pro or con toward professional learning? If we are a con toward professional learning, it is time for us to redirect our minds and advocate for the importance and the necessity of professional learning. After all, learning is the only thing that truly closes the gaps for all students and it starts with us learning first.

If we want students to love the learning in our school, we must first model that we love learning ourselves. When we have the opportunity to participate in professional learning, we, at times, can be overwhelmed, but we can't let our feelings drive our ability to learn. We can always choose to lean into the learning.

Love the learning and watch your growth soar!