A Modest (Maybe Not So) PD Proposal

       As I was reading Whiplash, which is about MIT’s Media Lab, I came across this description of staff member Ed Boydon: “Boyden didn’t draw strict boundaries around an object of study—he didn’t have objects of study at all. Instead, he was fascinated by life itself, in all its vibrant complexity” (p 220). The line captured the approach of the Media Lab, where open and never-ending exploration of any topic is standard operating procedure. I also found myself recalling a Twitter chat about professional development, in which I remarked:

a3 All the time. I find just engaging in life to be great PD. #isedchat

— Mark Crotty (@crottymark) May 26, 2017

Certainly much greater PD than most of the formal events I've attended.
       I'm not interested in ticking off the reasons why so much professional development is poor. Instead, I'm thinking about how it should change to bring about some of the shifts we need to see in education. I think much of that depends on a certain outlook and accompanying mindset. To consider that notion, let's unpack some of what is suggested in that Tweet.
       First are some sweeping implications about the purpose of school and how to meet those objectives. Rather than college or career preparation, school must become life preparatory and thus continually evolve accordingly. Workshops on standard curriculum and pedagogy are therefore inadequate. Further, schools must be not only responsive to societal trends but also learn how to take advantage of them. More importantly, educators--and things always come down to people, don't they?--must broaden their perspective and consider much more than their classrooms and/or subjects. We need more generalists rather than specialists. For example, I love when a teacher sees something cool from any area and wonders, "How can I share this in a meaningful way with my students?" When teachers exhibit their own insatiable, expansive curiosity, they model the sort of joyful learning that school can muffle inside cavernous and echoing academic silos.
       I see schools moving in this direction, and I can imagine them being like "life itself, in all its vibrant complexity." But we still have so much hard work to do, individually and collectively and systematically. As we press forward, I'll feel much better to the responses I would receive to another musing Tweet I posted:
     

Reading @WalterIsaacson ‘s awesome new bio of Leonardo da Vinci, and thinking about what kind of school might have worked for him.

— Mark Crotty (@crottymark) November 2, 2017