Should Schools Sacrifice Class Time for Professional Development?

We have so many non-educaitonal disruptions during the school year that if we cut out one of those a month, we could have some real collaborative professional time with departments, or grade level teachers.

When are we going to realize that taking instructional time away from students does not help them no matter how much professional development their teacher receives. We are the only profession that has time after 3:30 and summers to "develop professionally". Let's act like professionals to be treated like professionals and keep our focus on what's best for students - teacher/student CONTACT time! Time is the best thing we give our students.

If educators are to stay abreast of new 21st century learning tools, then the administration must provide a means for us to get that. They take so much time from teachers for meetings, workshops, and other 'frou frou' that they can darn well supply the training that we and our students truly need--preparedness for the 21st century classroom. We don't need to add more time to our hectic schedule, just use what we have more wisely. And I don't know a teacher whose job ends at 3:30. Often there are more 'work hours' after school than during. There are papers to grade, materials to prepare and lessons to plan. Expecting teachers to extend their work day to take courses just makes a stressful situation that much worse. We are already blamed for every ill in the world. Don't you dare call us lazy if we don't want to stay at school longer to learn new technology. If they pay me for summer work, I'll be glad to do it. If they pay me for taking evening classes, I will take them. But technology is not the panacea for what is wrong with American education. The spectrum of ability levels in the classroom, combined with the differences in student learning styles and parent support (as well as class size) all contribute to the 'dumbing down of American schools.' Even if technology could address all these issues, where is the money coming from to transform these classrooms? And where will the teacher find the time to plan all the different lessons for all the different learning styles and ability levels? The pendulum needs to stop and start back towards where we were a long time ago. Keep the technology, but narrow the great expanse of abilities in each room. The only thing 'inclusion' did was provide more distraction for the kids and more headaches for the teacher. When special needs children are once again taught by teachers who WANT to devote their lives to working with special children, then the regular ed. teacher could concentrate on the average and above ability students. Narrow the gap--improve education. Provide time for planning and for training--improve education. Pat the teacher on the back, instead of stabbing it---improve education.

I think that the use of class time for professional development is necessary but it should be done minimally and in an organized fashion also some sort of makeup activities should be included.