This year Potsdam Central School District participated in an "Un-conference" for one of our recent staff development days. An Un-conference is a new type of professional development that encourages in-staff collaboration and sharing of ideas. The idea is that all of the teachers who participate in professional development opportunities relevant to their subject area throughout the year then in turn present that same material to the rest of the district. The process was interesting and raised lots of questions throughout our building, but overall was a new and interesting addition.
Potsdam made this day a requirement for out teachers. Every teacher that attended a conference during the year, or any kind of outside professional development paid for by the school, was required to put together a presentation on the material they learned. Once everyone provided a description of their presentation, a survey was sent out to all staff members allowing them to vote for their favorite choices. Once all votes were cast, the administration selected the top choices to present during the Un-conference day. These teachers were given slots that they were to present at, and then were allowed to sign up for other presentations in their open slots. Are school choose to do five 1 hour time slots throughout the whole day. Teachers were able to choose which event that they wanted to attend during each time slot. They day took a lot of planning and preparation, but was ultimately a success.
The Un-conference idea brings up a lot of questions and different thoughts regarding the topic. Here a a few I asked myself after attending:
Did I enjoy this more than a normal professional development day, which usually is a large group activity or working for some of the day with your grade level/area?
Was prepping for the presentation too much work for the teachers who had to do so?
Would the prep time needed for creating a presentation deter teachers in the future from attending outside conferences knowing they will have to present to the school?
Would I enjoy doing it again?
For the most part, I had a very positive experience regarding the Un-conference, even as a presenter. I didn't mind presenting my topic, and I thought it was very refreshing and interesting to be able to attend multiple other sections presented by my own colleagues. I would be personally be in favor of doing the event again. What are your thoughts on the idea?
P.S -- I have attached the link to the presentation that I completed for the day on P2
Unconference
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