I was reading one of my favorite blogs tonight, “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” by Wesley Fryer.  One of his most recent posts refers to the “spray and pray” format of staff development.  At one point he even refers to himself as ”a ‘professional sprayer and prayer’“.  The exact type of staff development that we’ve been doing the past few months.  Fryer goes on to say that, although he is not ready to abandon the “spray and pray” method, he also, is looking into transforming the way staff development is conducted.  In her comment to Mr. Fryer’s post, Candace Hackett Shively says, “Spray and Pray does work for the teachers who are absolutely driven to seek out new things. The vast majority would LOVE to do so, but real life and health force them to choose survival, even if it means remaining in isolation at their outposts. Those of us who do PD, in whatever format, must truly meet them at these outposts and live amid their gear and their compatriots to provide the support and credibility they demand in helping them adopt new ways.”

So, to the outposts I go (having been in one for the past 14 years, been there, done that!) hopefully with lots of support in hand, credibility in my survival pack, and the flare of hope!