By Molly McGee Hewitt, PhD, CAE
Each year, NAPT and a variety of other organizations offer professional development opportunities in addition to ACTS26. You may attend a general session at a conference, a workshop, a PDS course, an online training session, a webinar or a Zoom class, or you may even read an insightful article. In addition to the training offered in your district, you have many options for where to go and what to learn!
How do you make the most of your professional development opportunities? Here are six suggestions to enhance your professionalism:
1. Make it a point to identify at least one good idea, suggestion or resource from every training session you attend. Write it down and determine how you will use the information. One great idea or suggestion can save you time and money or help you address a challenge you are facing. My goal is usually one idea per hour!
2. Take notes. You may use an AI notetaker or simply an old-fashioned pen and paper, but taking notes enhances your learning and the potential for future use. It gives you a record and a way to capture what you have learned. Retention is definitely enhanced by note-taking.
3. Find something from every training session that you can share with your management and team. It may be an article, a great speaker, a checklist or an idea that your school district or organization needs to hear. When I returned to my district, I would write up the information, attach any related materials and distribute everything. I would thank my leadership for allowing me to attend and share what I had learned. I would also impress my team by bringing them on board with new information.
4. Create a space in your office for training materials and information. I have a binder that includes plastic envelopes. When I return from a training session, I place the program and any handouts or notes in this binder. It is a big blue binder marked “PDS.” I can easily find what I need and copy it for others.
5. Create connections. Every training session you attend has a leader teaching it and fellow participants learning alongside you. Whether at a conference or online, you will be with other like-minded professionals. Use every opportunity to create new connections. I try to capture people’s names, titles and districts in my notes. After the program, I make it a point to email the trainer and anyone I met and ask to add them to my professional contacts list. By doing this, I have collected valuable contact information and made amazing colleagues and friends.
6. Be present during your training. Do not multitask. Do not open your phone and scroll. Do not try to do other things during the training. Give it 100 percent of your attention and interest. Look the speakers in the eye. Make connections with those attending with you. Go into the training with the belief that you need this information and that it is going to help your future! Attend and participate with the anticipation that you are about to learn valuable, career-enhancing information. Look for the nuggets of wisdom and the key connections!
During a committee meeting at a previous association, one of the members stated that they attended our programs only to give back to the profession. They boldly declared that they had nothing left to learn and were doing us a favor by being present. I almost choked on my coffee when I heard that comment. I also almost let out an embarrassing laugh! The professional who made this comment was dead wrong. We are always learning, evolving and adapting in our industry. While you may be an experienced professional, a humble spirit requires you to keep learning! If you are new to the industry, each training session and contact is an opportunity for advancement.
Throughout my career, I have been blessed to attend many conferences, conventions, training sessions and programs. They have all been interesting, and each one has added to my professional toolkit. What I have learned is this: Use it or lose it! Capturing ideas, making contacts and identifying resources only benefit me if I use them. My goal is to apply whatever I have learned as quickly as possible!
NAPT and the NAPT Foundation welcome you to our professional development programs, and we hope they exceed your expectations!