Professional Development
for Teachers of Preschool

Continued professional development for teachers of preschool is imperative to stay up to date and keep your teaching skills sharp. According to the thesaurus of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database, professional development refers to "activities to enhance professional career growth."

Therefore, teacher professional development is something that is very important. For you, it means learning more about who you are and about what type of teacher you can be, and for your students it means having a teacher that has done all that they can to promote their own learning.

Professional development is very important for all teachers.

Even if you have been a teacher for only a year, you are going on learning that you've done in the past. Studies change, students change, and teachers should be changing with the times as well.

Teachers' professional development means that you want to be sure that no matter how long you've been a teacher, you are always learning something new, and helping to promote new things within your own life as a teacher.

This is the best way for you to help your students see that the best life they can lead is a life where they never stop learning.

When you are a teacher, you want to promote this idea by never stopping your own learning process.

Professional development means that you must be dedicated to a plan of constantly developing yourself so that you will be the best teacher that you can be.

You'll want to participate in on-going and sustained professional development classes and endeavors.

You'll learn something from each of the things that you do, whether it's leading various school clubs and activities or taking personal and professional training courses to improve your life and knowledge or advance your teaching career.

Professional development for teachers means being a life long learner, so that you might show your students what life long learning is all about, and why it is so important.

Areas of Professional Development for Teachers

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There are several areas that teachers should work to continue to develop:

• Technology
• Classroom management
• Curriculum areas (like reading)
• Child development
• New educational theory/research

Of course, you may have other areas that are important to you. Evaluate where you are currently at in your knowledge base, and then try to envision where you would like to go. What do you need to know to get there? Make a professional development plan based on these goals.

Benefits of Professional Development for Teachers

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Aside from the obvious benefits of learning new skills, taking part in possibly new and enjoyable activities, and developing yourself personally, there are additional benefits that will come your way:

* Obtain your specialist credentials in areas such as arts, physical education or languages will put you on a higher pay scale (in some districts) and give you an advantage when applying to a new school in the future.

* Completing an offline or online degree program, like obtaining a masters degree in education for example, you'll have a chance to partake in more teaching opportunities, perhaps online teaching jobs or international teaching opportunities.

Take advantage of one of these development opportunities. The sky is the limit, and if you have a higher degree, you'll find that you can fly higher than you ever dreamed possible.

Resources for Professional Development for Teachers

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There are plenty of professional development opportunities for teachers.

Such activities may include individual development, continuing education, and inservice education, as well as curriculum writing, peer collaboration, study groups, and peer coaching or mentoring.

Often, a combination of the above will round out your preschool teacher professional development plan.