Teacher in Development

I’m not rich. I don’t have piles of cash sitting around my house or living in my bank account just waiting to be used for whatever purpose I desire. Nope. Most of the time, my money gets earned,  and very quickly leaves me to pay the telephone bill, cover mortgage payments, keep food on the table, and gas in my car. I use it to pay what needs paying.

So what about professional development? I firmly believe that if you’re a teacher, you should never stop learning. The moment you decide you’ve "arrived" and don’t need continuous development, is the moment you stop being relevant. Professional development is a vital part of being an excellent and effective teacher - in my personal case: a language teacher.

But what do you do when you can’t afford professional development? What do you do when you can’t afford to pay x thousand dollars to take a DELTA or CELTA course? What if you can’t afford to pay university tuition and books? Or worse still, what if you don’t even have access to such resources to begin with?

I don’t even understand what I’ve just found, but I want to pass it on to you. This link comes via Derek’s Blog

I just watched the vid cast by Richard Baraniuk (it’s short, interesting, and well worth your time.) and visited the Connexions site. All I can say is this: blown away.

Are you like me, and don’t have piles of cash sitting around, yet you would like to polish, and develop your teaching skills? Why don’t you take a peek at this: Teachers Without Borders: Course 1: Education for the New Millennium.

 This is the start point of a 5 course certificate program. All for free. I know where I’ll be spending some serious time over the next few weeks. What do you think?