Being an adult learner at my current site has changed
significantly over the past six years. When I began at my school I felt like the
practices used for adult learning were ineffective. Our professional development
was consistently brief and discontinuous. I can remember one instance where we
had one introductory training on teaching students growing up in poverty and
then never heard or saw any information regarding this again. In another
instance, we had a training on arts integration and then heard nothing about it
again until the next training which was months away. Thinking back on how we,
as adult learners, were expected to adapt any of the information presented with
so little information and/or follow up, it is not surprising that many teachers
felt as though we were unable to really use anything we were supposed to be
learning.
The way that Zepeda presents adult learning is much more
closely aligned to the way that my school works on initiatives now. For one, our
learning is now more individualized or self-directed. This has allowed us to
choose what we feel will be most productive to further enhance out practice. We
have some freedom to participate in informal or incidental learning as
presented by Marsick and Watkins. When we do our work in committees or in focus
groups, we are given a chance to frame our learning and interact with each
other through implementation and reflection. The shift in focus we have seen at
my school is tackling learning in a much more context-based situation as
presented by Hansman.
As our school has moved forward these past several years, we
have begun to see the learning of teachers through the lens that many of the
authors this week have presented. Whether through an individualized approach so
we can focus on the information we feel will benefit our practice most or
through the reflection we regularly incorporate, our learning practices are
much more effective. The change that has taken place has given me a new
perspective on how we should approach teacher development and has made me
realize what effective professional development looks like. Our practices are
not perfect, but they have moved in the right direction thanks to a change in
administration and teachers who have spoken out to make our learning more
productive.
