Why Teachers Should Invest in Professional Development This Summer

June 24, 2022

By Nick Kovalcik

Teachers deserve to unwind and rejuvenate over the summer, but they cannot help but continue to put their hearts and souls into their careers as educators and stay connected to the educational environment. Teachers are students for the rest of their lives. Summer continuing education and professional development initiatives provide instructors the best of both worlds by allowing them to learn and improve on their schedule and wherever they are. Consider your objectives and the various summer professional development opportunities you are exploring, and match your learning to become an expert and implement what you have learned in your classroom next year.

Summer means thinking about something other than their classroom for some teachers. For others, summer offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to think about new and exciting areas of their work. Teachers can take advantage of numerous possibilities for professional development during the summer. However, recently, teachers have turned to one option, TeacherSims, for their summer professional development.

SchoolSims Summer Professional Development for Teachers

Meeting student learning needs today requires effective professional development that helps teachers learn and refine the instructional strategies needed to teach 21st-century skills. Even experienced teachers need compelling and engaging professional development. Each of our simulations provides experiential learning opportunities that come with its own set of unique consequences. You will experience challenging situations, make decisions with no perfect option, and deal with the results of difficult choices. 

TeacherSims provides a risk-free environment through software simulations where you have an opportunity to learn and fail as you face difficult situations. Our simulations allow you to choose your own “adventure,” essentially accelerating time, allowing participants to decide on a course of action, implement it, and experience its consequences, all within the same exercise.

TeacherSims Are Aligned With Professional Standards

To improve the efficacy of your teacher professional development program, SchoolSims includes simulation subjects that correspond with CAEP and InTASC, such as those listed below:

  • Classroom management
  • Diversity
  • Special education
  • IEPs
  • Student in crisis
  • Instruction
  • Parent conferences
  • Challenging conversations

TeacherSims Provides an Asynchronous Learning Experience for Both Current and Aspiring Teachers

When TeacherSims are used asynchronously, the aspiring, novice, or experienced teachers feel more freedom to repeat the simulation three or even four times to try new decisions and learn from decisions they may not ever choose in real life. Play the simulation in different ways, even making the worst decisions so that you can experience the consequences that result from making mistakes.

TeacherSims Develops Your Skills and Offers the Opportunity To Learn Something New

Choosing options that are not ideal and working to recover from them is critical. There is rarely a perfect option in real life; our simulations are built with that in mind. How can you please all stakeholders when they have such different agendas?

TeacherSims Accelerates Time

Simulations enable participants to gain experience dealing with authentic challenges before actual situations occur, thus accelerating your development time as you choose when to experience a challenging situation and how to handle it. By playing simulations multiple times, learners can try different routes and realize the consequences of each choice to draw on that knowledge when faced with similar issues in real life.

Why Is Professional Development Necessary for Teachers?

Three main factors make professional development necessary: we must create teacher leaders, keep learning relevant, and add to the body of knowledge in educational research. Teachers impact the students and communities they work with because they are lifelong learners. Access to interesting, demanding, and pertinent professional development directly impacts pupils’ results.

Lack of access to high-quality professional development causes educators to be less well-equipped to serve their communities and reduces the influence instructors are likely to have during students’ instructional time. There are numerous ways to deal with professional development in the twenty-first century. Developing more capable and effective teachers and raising awareness of individual teaching and leadership styles are essential.

Education is a continuous process. It does not end when you get your degree and start working. Career-minded individuals can develop their abilities and become more proficient at employment by continuing their education. It is vital for school administrators in the field of K-12 education administration to encourage teachers to pursue professional development, not only to assure the best learning outcomes for their students but also to be more effective and fulfilled in many parts of their work.



“The Importance of Professional Development in the 21st Century.” Graduate Programs for Educators, 22 Feb. 2021, https://www.graduateprogram.org/2019/09/the-importance-of-professional-development-in-the-21st-century/.