How do you like your PD served?

So today I attended a professional development workshop on de-escalation strategies in school.  It was delivered by my colleague, Jack Marcellus of the CCTS, Pennsauken Campus.  He did a nice job fascilitating a discussion on crisis prevention.  The twenty-or-so attendees shared personal experiences and brainstormed on what strategies worked for them.  All-in-all, it was a good and worthwhile workshop and I am glad I attended.  I have to be honest, though.  Jack began the PD standing in front of the room speaking, Power Point a-blazing, and I thought to myself, "OH NO!  NOT ANOTHER ONE OF THESE!"  To my relief, it was just his way, albeit very traditional, of "setting the table" for the day's discussion.  It goes to show you that inspite of all the critics of traditional education models, when used skillfully, they can be very effective.

Tomorrow, I am heading up the NJ Turnpike to the NJPSA headquarters for the Edcamp Leadership "Un-conference".  Nothing could be much more un-traditional then the Edcamp PD delivery method, where the schedule is...TBD, the presenters are...TBD and the "Law of Two Feet" always applies (read below).  Sound crazy?  Here is an excerpt from their website, www.edcampleadership.org/:

    "Edcamp Leadership is a free unconference for school leaders devoted to K-12 education issues and ideas. Its goal is to assemble forward-thinking school administrators, board of education members, classroom teacher leaders, parents/community members – anyone interested in K-12 education – for a day of conversation, reflection and inspiration...If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing: Give greetings, use your Two Feet and go do something useful. Responsibility resides with you."

I don't know exactly know what to expect, but I know and work/have worked with several of the Edcamp-ers, so I also know it will be great! I also know that it will not be, "your grandfather's professional development workshop" and for some, that may be scary.  For me it is an exciting change of pace and a possible sneak-peak into the future of teaching and learning.  If you cannot make the trip upto exit 8-A, you should follow some of the discussions that are bound to make you think differently.  If you are apart of the "Twitterverse",  follow along at #EdcampLeadership.  If not, check out the website (above).  Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors of ice cream...why not have more than one flavor of professional development?