Some teachers miss several days of school each year to attend trainings and conferences. Of these professional development opportunities available, teachers must decide if their attendance is beneficial enough to outweigh the instructional time they will miss.

Science teacher Jeff Underwood, who recently attended a three-day conference, takes advantage of the learning opportunities the school presents by attending conferences he believes will benefit his teaching.

“The school reaches out to see if anybody is interested in attending conferences and I usually jump on them because I tend to learn a lot. Teaching is not a perfect science so any help that we can get we should be looking for,” Underwood said.

Michael McDowell, author of Rigorous PBL by Design: Three Shifts for Developing Confident and Competent Learners, led a conference Underwood attended two weeks ago. Underwood plans to incorporate the strategies he learned at this training into his classroom. But believes the content applies to his Biology class at a greater capacity than his AP Environmental Science class, due to the more flexible learning schedule he can exercise in CP classes.

“As far as time is concerned, there is a lot more content that needs to be dished out in AP Environmental Science so I go for a more direct instruction in there,” Underwood said. “I’m going to use most of the conference material in my biology classes. We’re building a whole new curriculum and getting things rolling so I’m going to try to incorporate it in that.”

Although the McDowell conference took place during the week leading into midterms, Underwood feels confident that his absence did not negatively affect his classes due to the work he left the substitute teacher for students to complete.

“I typically leave a lot of stuff to do for my subs so I don’t lose out on that time too much. I do feel sorry for them but they have a lot to do when they get here and I try to make sure it is at least something that is enriching and that adds to the curriculum instead of a movie day,” Underwood said. “The activity they were doing focused completely on getting them ready for their midterm so I think that it was actually pretty beneficial for them and it gave them some time to study and prepare.”

Senior Mae Hughes sees the potential in teachers attending conferences, but points out the effect it has on students faced with substitute teachers in classes.

“I think it’s good that teachers can go to the conferences because it’s going to make them better teachers, but it can sometimes be inconvenient for the students – especially with timing,” Hughes said. “Having a sub for three days isn’t convenient for any class.”

AVID teachers leave monthly during the school year for conferences  at the Sacramento County Office of Education to learn new strategies as well as teaching skills. In addition, they attend an annual three-day summer institute in Sacramento that is open for teachers, counselors, and administration.

AVID and English teacher Amy Shishido sees these learning opportunities as valuable to her teaching because she can apply the material learned to both of her subjects.

“They are super beneficial for me,” Shishido said. “As a teacher I try to find new ideas to incorporate to keep everything fresh and up-to-date, and the more tools I have for classroom engagement the better. I can always take a little something from each conference to apply to my AVID and English classes.”

AVID teachers have designated Tuesdays and Thursdays as tutorial days for their classes. The conferences fall on these days all year and having a class period in which students can work in small groups with tutors helps lessen the impact of their monthly absences.

Shishido chooses conferences that yield favorable results for her classes, and believes that the quality of the conference is important for teachers to consider when choosing to attend during the school year.

“I try to go to conferences I see as being beneficial directly to my classroom, the ones I have been to I find very beneficial. I know there are some that aren’t as much so it’s good to try and pick ones that will be helpful to your subjects,” Shishido said.

Junior and senior class AVID teachers also experience opportunities for college specific learning days which require an absence from their normal day at the high school.

English and AVID teacher Kelly Capell believes that by attending college workshops and AVID strategy conferences teachers are able to stay up to date and relay the most current information to their students.

“We do a lot of trainings to stay up on what’s going on in California and the nation,” Capell said. “It’s important to have that communication with admission officers so we’re getting the word from them directly to our students. Attending these conferences means there is no middle man.”

Senior and four year AVID student Thomas Bertoli finds the AVID teacher conferences applicable to the class due to teachers providing relevant information immediately following their attendance of a conference.

“The teachers put together a powerpoint presentation for us the day after they attend conferences to tell us what they learned so I see attending them as very beneficial to us,” Bertoli said.