When we think of traditional professional development, we often picture an “expert” at the front of the room, disseminating knowledge based on research. If we are fortunate, there are opportunities for audience participation in the form of digital polls, opportunities to work in groups or speak with a partner, or even step by step instructions to follow as the presenter guides us through a process of filling out a graphic organizer or creating a digital resource.

We encourage educators to be responsive to the needs of their students, to utilize formative assessment minute by minute to guide instructional decisions. Professional learning experiences should be no different. What if the professional learning facilitator ditched the powerpoint? What if it was the participants themselves that led the learning, based on their needs?

Looking back, the first few professional learning sessions I facilitated were not responsive to the needs of the learners sitting in my midst. I believed they were in the room to learn from me, to access the information I was there to present. While I had created opportunities for attendees to interact with the content and with each other, I did not collect formative feedback before or during the session. I was not a responsive educator.

Earlier this year I facilitated professional learning sessions for two school sites in the same district. While the materials I prepared for each site were identical, the sessions themselves were very different in practice. While I had a presentation prepared, I ditched the slides. I was not bound by my original plan. At the first school site, educators had many questions about digital portfolios. The concept resonated with them and they wanted to know more. I opened a new tab in my browser and demonstrated how to begin creating a Google Site. I then circulated the room to offer support as these teachers experienced “sandbox time”, a chance to explore the platform on their own. At the school site I visited in the afternoon, educators wanted to know more about a “socratic seminar on steroids” strategy I presented. Again, I ditched the presentation. In the moment, I created a learning experience on the spot for teachers to engage in their own blended socratic seminar as students.

At first, the idea of ditching a presentation in the middle of a learning session seems intimidating. It can make us feel as if what we prepared was not adequate to the needs of our learners, that it is somehow a poor reflection of us. And yet, going “off script” reveals the opposite. When we ditch our agenda to respond our learners, we reveal our flexibility, adaptability, and skill at meeting the needs of a diverse set of learners.

How do we know when it is appropriate to ditch our presentation? We must ask questions and be observant. At the beginning of each professional learning session I facilitate, I take the time to ask each participant what their role is and what they want to learn during our time together. If the group of learners is small enough, attendees answer these questions one by one, verbally. In larger groups, I use a digital platform to record the responses. When we ask these questions, we are better able to adapt our message to meet the context of our adult learners.

During the session itself, I often have a way for attendees to ask questions in real time. This can work in large groups as well. When my colleague and husband Adam Juarez and I were presenting to a room of more than 300 educators at the ISTE conference in 2018, we used a hashtag on Twitter to monitor questions. This allowed us to be responsive to the educators in our midst. We were able to provide clarification, answer questions regarding specific circumstances of our participants, and better meet the needs of this large group of individuals. In large groups like this, there are often repeat questions. Another option is to use the Q&A feature of Google Slides, through which participants can give a thumbs up to a “question”, indicating that they also are interested in that topic. Those questions with the most thumbs up go to the top of the presenters’ view, easing the process of determining the most pressing need.

Another tip for ditching that presentation is to prepare more content than you have time to cover. This way, the needs of attendees’ needs will determine which components of the presentation you will address. I typically fill a digital presentation with more links to resources and activities than the learners will have time to explore and experience during our time together. But that is ok. Because learners are not all the same. We bring individual contexts, experiences, and needs. When we provide a multitude of options for the adult learners we serve, we validate them as individuals and also provide them with opportunities to extend their learning outside the session if they so choose.

A new level of the ditch the presentation concept occurred this spring. I was asked to teach a course entitled “Technology in the Classroom” for intern teachers in their credential program. The challenge was that in this class of more than 30 adult learners, there were both mild/moderate and moderate/severe special education teachers, career technical education teachers, and early childhood educators who teach toddlers in their homes. This diverse groups had varying needs. In order to be responsive to these learners, the first night of class I delved heavy into philosophy and then spent time providing an overview of many of the topics we could cover during the remaining classes. I then created a Google Form and asked these learners to let me know what they were most interested in learning about regarding technology in their context. The responses varied greatly. I created a Google Site with enough resources to meet these diverse learning requests. As a result, feedback revealed that these learners appreciated that content was customized for them and that it would be available at one website address if they wanted to access these resources again in the future.

In all aspects of the process of facilitating professional learning, from planning to implementation to follow-up, consider the diverse needs of the individuals you serve. Be bound not by a powerpoint, but by empathy for the educators in your midst. Ask questions, listen to conversations, and don’t be afraid to ditch that presentation as needed for the benefit of your adult learners.