Why Math Professional Development One-Offs Won’t Cut It

For about 10 years prior to the pandemic, Jon and I had been travelling to districts all over North America and beyond to deliver professional development for K-12 educators of mathematics. First, working for Apple as a part of their math professional development team and later, as independent consultants helping districts make transformations to their math pedagogical approach and to build mathematics content knowledge.

Although we enjoyed all of the connections made and excitement we inspired through those experiences, we try our best to avoid delivering math professional development sessions in this format we call “The One-Off“.

Don’t get me wrong: The One-Off approach is really helpful for districts who are at the beginning of their math professional learning journey towards shifting the math mindsets of their educators and inspiring them to see that math class can look different than the one they remember.

The struggle we have with The One-Off approach is what happens after we leave?

1. What will the next steps be for educators?
2. How will the work continue?
3. What will implementation look like?

While we all wish that The One-Off was all we need to inspire and implement new ideas in the math classroom, the reality is that anything worth while is hard.

It takes time, effort and continuous support.

That is why we tend to reserve our time travelling to schools and districts that do not want The One-Off to be their “quick fix” for their math class woes.

Instead, we work with districts to plan their long- and short-range professional learning plans which may involve in-person or virtual sessions, access to the on-going self-paced learning in our Academy, and routine touch-point meetings with district math leaders to ensure they feel supported through the process.

So, maybe you’re wanting to ditch The One-Off approach to mathematics professional development, but you’re wondering what it might look like for your district.

There is no easy answer to this as every district is unique having unique educators and students, while also planning from very different places along their unique professional learning journey.

If your district is just beginning the journey to shift from an approach that is highly teacher centred to student centred, this might look like:

1. Kick-off workshop that begins with “why” a shift in mindset  around what it means to be mathematically proficient and how we can help more students get there;
2. Work with our planning team to debrief after the kick-off workshop and plan forward;
3. District math leads (coaches, consultants) continuing to lead the work using a course such as our Building Resilient Problem Solvers Online Workshop or How To Transform Your Textbook Into A Curiosity Machine to deepen their own learning and guide the focus; and,
4. End of year wrap-up session to consolidate learning throughout that particular school year and continue the next steps for the next school year.

For another district that has been focused on engaging students and shifting towards a problem based learning model might have already made the necessary mindset shifts and needs more support in crafting a path as a district to follow.

If your district is still stuck using The One-Off approach to mathematics professional learning, you’re not alone! This is the approach most districts are still using each year, despite little to no pedagogical or content knowledge change taking place afterwards.

Over the last week alone, Jon and I have received four (4) requests to do “One-Off” professional learning sessions for four (4) different districts in four (4) completely different parts of North America.

Do you know what we said?

Of course you do.

The answer we gave was:

No.

Of course, we elaborated describing how we are simply finished flying all over North America and beyond to allow districts to waste professional learning funds on an ineffective professional learning model.

Now, don’t get me wrong: would participants be engaged and excited to continue on their math professional development journey?

Of course!

Would they learn something?

YES!

But the most important question should be:

Will educators make a true shift in their teaching practice 1 week, 1 month or 1 year from now?

Sadly, the research would suggest that the answer is: “no”.

That is why the Make Math Moments Team is focusing on districts who are committed to doing real learning, for real implementation and for real long-term impact.

Are you and your district professional development planning team members tired of reinventing your math learning plan each year only to be disappointed with the lack of true classroom impact?

If so, then we want to chat with you to learn more about your district professional learning challenges and how the Make Math Moments District Mentorship Program can help you reach your dream outcome for mathematics classrooms district wide.

And before we go, I have a couple questions for you to think on:

1. How many “One-Off” math professional development sessions has your district engaged in over the past 5 years?
2. How much influence or impact do you think that work has had on mathematics programming across your district?

Let us know in the comments below and we look forward to talking to you or a Math Mentor from your district real soon.

Resources Related To The Video

• Learn more about our Make Math Moments District Mentorship Program

• Book a time to chat about your math professional development plan with our team

• Explore our 3-Part Framework to Sparking Curiosity and Fuelling Sense Making in math class

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