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Make the Most out of your Summer Professional Development Experience
Professional Development through NAAE | Advanced Degrees Can Advance Course Offerings, Salary
Wake up! Summer Conferences Rev Up Teachers for the Coming Year
Make the Most out of Your Summer Professional Development Experience
This summer, you are likely to do many things – catch up on projects around the house, take inventory in your shop, order supplies for the next school year, and—if you’re lucky—you might get to throw a vacation into the mix. But there’s one thing you definitely don’t want to leave off the list: professional development.
Whether it’s taking the leap to advance your education with a master’s degree or attending summer courses or conferences to help improve your classroom offerings, professional development is not only a good way to keep up with the industry, having a professional growth plan is a requirement of the National Quality Program Standards.
In this issue, we explore some of the professional growth opportunities offered in agricultural education, whether it’s joining an organization like NAAE and taking advantage of its Webinars or Communities of Practice message board, or obtaining an advanced degree through online courses. We hope that you will learn some new ideas and opportunities for plotting your professional growth plan this summer.
With all of the day-to-day demands of teaching, repairing, coaching, building, growing, creating, etc., professional development might be the last thing on your mind; however, it should be one of the first. Read Professional Development through NAAE to discover how you can take advantage of the many opportunities this organization offers to its members in the agricultural education community.
Advancing your education at a college or university will no doubt cost both time and money, but it’s a worthy investment for the successful agriculture teacher. It can provide a measure of job security and, more importantly, a chance to continue to further develop your expertise and classroom offerings. Read Advanced Degrees Can Advance Course Offerings, Salary to see if now is a good time to look into going back to school.
Before you start going through your inventory, shutting down the greenhouse for the summer, making SAE visits and stocking up on shop supplies for next year, take some time to plan what could be the highlight of your summer: professional development conferences. Learn how to get the most out of these summer conferences by reading Wake up! Summer Conferences Rev Up Teachers for the Coming Year.
In this month’s Perspectives article, we show you an example of how one state has put a professional development plan into place. You can use it as a benchmark for your state’s professional development plan, or simply get some new ideas on how you can further your own plan. Read Professional Development in Agricultural Education – The Nebraska Model to learn more.
Don’t miss the LifeKnowledge Spotlight this month, where Dr. Kyle McGregor talks about the upcoming Delta Conference and why it’s so beneficial to teachers. And be sure to get next year’s conference on your radar.
Got something to say about summer conferences, advanced degrees or professional agricultural education organizations? Then check out the Question for the Profession this month: What’s the Difference between Good Professional Development and Great Professional Development?
Making a Difference is taking a little break this summer while our LPS specialists make their summer visits. But we’ll be back in September with fresh content and new ideas for the 2009-2010 school year. Have a great summer, and we’ll see you next fall!
Best,
Amber Striegel
Editor
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