Traditional professional development – like book studies or in-services – have their advantages, but sometimes educators with busy lives need more flexibility. That’s why North Dakota United offers Podcast PD – an effective way for educators to earn up to five PD credits per year.
Andrea Weikum is an AVID elective teacher at Horizon Middle School in Bismarck. She says she loves that Podcast PD is so personalized to her interests.
“During any type of PD that we're given in the schools, oftentimes teachers can get annoyed because it's something that somebody else picked,” Weikum said. “Whereas the Podcast PD is 110% personalized to exactly what we need as teachers. We can look through hundreds of options for episodes and pick what’s relevant to what we need to make us successful in our classrooms.”
Educators can choose from any episode of one of the following seven podcasts to listen to and write a reflection paper about.
Quote byAndrea Weikum, AVID elective teacher
- Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore
- Teach Me, Teacher
- The Wired Educator
- Truth for Teachers
- Literacy Talks
- The Mel Robbins Podcast
- Stepping into Special Education
Seven reflection papers equal one credit, and participants can earn up to five credits using Podcast PD.
NDU members have found the wide breadth of knowledge from real educators in the hundreds of available podcast episodes has impacted their classroom, both in broad strokes with how they understand their professional practice and in their day-to-day teaching.
Tracy Boyle, a high school special education teacher at Central Cass, says listening to podcasts hosted by special ed teachers have her thinking about important things she needs to know, but that she doesn’t use every day in her classroom.
“I listened to the podcast on special education. It’s a special ed teacher who does the podcast, and some of the episodes I listened to were more of the legal side of things, which I found interesting because I don’t always deal with special ed law,” Boyle said.
Quote byTracy Boyle, special ed teacher
On the other hand, Boyle said she has learned a lot, like the “junk drawer analogy” she got from a guest on the Truth for Teachers podcast, where kids have to make connections to their learning with everyday objects.
“My kids had to pick something out of our junk drawer and compare it to what we were doing in class. And, oh my gosh, we laughed so hard and hadso much fun,” she said. “One was a sponge. They said they had to sponge up all the information and then use that information to wipe on everybody else's brain. When you give kids a chance and do weird things that they think are fun, they usually rise to the occasion.”
And of course, perhaps the biggest draw about Podcast PD: you choose how you listen.
“It was super convenient. I could do it at my own time: while I’m getting ready, to and from work, while I’m working out, during my lunch. With the book studies, you have to dedicate more time to reading. Not that they're any different or bad, it's just feels a little bit different. But yeah, Podcast PD is way more convenient,” said Weikum.
Sign up for Podcast PD at courses.ndunited.org.
