Free Professional Development

Addressing the elephant in the (class)room, attending a conference, let alone the upcoming National Convention in Cleveland, IS expensive*. Even if your school allows travel to professional development during the week, travel out of your state, travel overnight, have professional development funding, and can find substitute teachers to cover your classes, the likelihood of you attending a large conference can be slim, and for many, is unlikely.

If you’re looking for free professional development ideas and/or are eager to hone your craft in your own time, I’ve collated some ideas for you.

#1 Read A Blog/Sign up for a Newsletter – Free, easy to access on your device and also easy to collate using the Feedly app, there are a wealth of excellent teachers out there willing to share their resources with others. Take time to read a blog or two – my current favorite is Ty Riddick‘s blog site that features his meaningful PE reflections. If you want to take this one step further, why not consider writing a guest blog post, or start a blog of your own? Check out Pete Charrette‘s Top 20 list of PE blog sites.

#2 Listen to a Podcast – THIS is my free PD of choice as my commute to work is 70 minutes, and the return journey is 90! Following the recent closure of the Stitcher app I now access all of my podcasts via PodcastGuru. Like Stitcher, it allows users to create playlists. It also allowed me to migrate my old lists across to this new platform. My lists include ‘Favorites’, ‘Podcasts to Binge’, ‘Social Justice’ and ‘Education’. If you are interested in incorporating podcasts into your classroom, check out the model used by Podcast Brunch Club, with their themed playlists and associated reflection questions. Additionally, I encourage you to consider making podcasts with your students. It’s much easier than you might think.

Shout out to Nathan Walker and my favorite new podcast from the last 12 months. His PE Insights podcast has had some phenomenal guests from the world of physical education. (Check out episode 12 ;-))

#3 Watch a TED Talk – Available in audio and visual format, the TED talks continue to churn out awesome resources that can be used for professional development or used in your classroom. Three questions I always ask after a TED talk are – how did I connect with it emotionally, what did I learn from the talk, and in what ways was this presentation novel? If you haven’t done so already, please check out my 2019 TEDx talk – it might be the thing of which I’m most proud as an educator. In this microblog post I share generic templates that can be used to accompany your use of TED talks in the classroom.

#4 Check Out Your Library – It may have been a while since you checked out your local library. They’ve moved into the 21st century with audio books available via apps. You no longer need to visit the library (but I suggest you should) and you NEVER have to worry about books being overdue as they drop off of your device when your loan period is up. My local library and my school library use different apps and I have the Libby and Hoopla apps available for me to listen to or read books on my iPad or Kindle. My local library also allows me to watch documentaries via the Kanopy app.

I collate a list of awesome book suggestions if you are looking for inspiration.

#5 Access a Webinar – There are so many great health and physical education webinars available for you to access from the comfort of your own home. SHAPE America has a series of free webinars and of course the Physedagogy video’s are still available on YouTube for you to work your way through. My tip for webinars is to sign up whenever you get an email reminder. Often that allows you to go back and access the content at your leisure.

Not a webinar, but still high quality free resources, check out Hip Hop Public Health and their wealth of health related songs, videos and toolkits to use in your classroom.

#6 Find a Mentor or Mentee – This has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career development. A few years back I sought out a young teacher and we bounced thoughts and ideas around via the Voxer app. We have since met at a number of conferences and I continue to be inspired by all of the great ideas that he has. I encourage you to get paired up with another professional and develop together, at your own pace, in your own time.

#7 Subscribe to Newsletters – Click ‘subscribe’ to some of these great organizations, sit back and watch your inbox fill up with resources that can be used immediately or saved for another day. Many of these free subscriptions can be refined to reflect your needs, or stopped if they prove to be irrelevant. My favorites include the CDC  , ETR, and ASHA. In terms of wonderful newsletters from educators to sign up for, look no further than Christopher Pepper‘s Teen Health Today You might also like the newsletter from my good friend Scott Todnem.

#8 Outsource Yourself – Not everyone has spring break at the same time as you so there are many of your peers still working hard in their classroom. Why not consider helping them out by skyping into their lesson? Check out how Adam Llevo did just this and taught a PE lesson in America….while being based in Saudi Arabia. If you have teaching experience to share, I know plenty of college professors who would love for you to chat on Zoom to their future professionals!