Teacher events are uneventful and miss the boat.

I attended many teacher events the past few months where K-12th grade teachers were suppose to be receiving training to help them in the classroom. After speaking with hundreds of educators during the events, it became apparent that the potential value of these events is not realized.

Teachers are isolated in their classrooms all week, away from their peers. The best opportunity to bring this extremely valuable community together is through such professional development training days. However, rather than utilize these days to share knowledge and build networks, many of these events are used as information downloads where educators are disengaged.

After spending years in the corporate world, I have first-hand experienced the true value of training events. The secret to our success is not only the information we receive but also the people who we know. Corporations are experts at mixing networking cocktail hours and social events with professional training. They understand the value of a connected community. Why this is so oblivious to the education sector is dumbfounding.

Districts must find a way to leverage the power of the community and engage the workforce. One way to do this is through online and in-person professional networking offered by services such as Applebatch, an professional networking company strictly dedicated to connecting K-12th grade teachers. You can learn more by requesting to join at www.applebatch.com