Brittany, in my school district, I can apply in advance to receive professional development credits for events that I normally go to anyway. (If that baby in the picture belongs to you, the summer PDs might be a hardship. I remember.)
1. I have received PD credit for turning in a program from our NC Thespian Festival with the events I attended and watched highlighted. (I'm sure some of our NC teachers probably get PD for attending the workshops along with our Thespians, which we allow.).
2. We have a professional organization here, the North Carolina Theatre Arts Educators. We have a Fall Sharing and Winter Focus each year. The Fall Sharing features master classes on Friday afternoon and a whole day of workshops by teachers on Saturday. The Winter Focus is a weekend retreat that focuses on one subject. I've received PD credits for both. We've had teachers from bordering states attend our Fall Sharing to satisfy PD requirements for their states.
3. I could get PD by highlighting a program from the International Thespian Festival, with prior approval, but I haven't needed the additional PD credits.
Key to getting my school district to approve these events as PD was explaining that I cannot get job-specific PD through our district PD opportunities, and theatre PD is essential for my continued growth as a theatre educator. I am the only high school theatre teacher in the district.
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C. J. Breland
Asheville High School
Asheville NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2017 07:28
From: Brittany Taylor
Subject: PD for Theater Arts Teachers
I am interested to know how your districts approach Professional Development for teachers who have licenses from the state in Theater Arts/Drama K-12. Currently, I do not have any PD opportunities offered by the county that pertain solely to the content of theater arts yet my district expects all my PD to be in the content of my licensure.
Are there any of you that have faced this similar issue?
Or, are your districts approving PD in other content hours to count towards the renewal of your license?
For the sake of the conversation, I am not licensed in English or any core content. It is solely in Theater Arts grades K-12.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Brittany Taylor
Drama Teacher