I anticipate that some individuals will question my decision to list the student presentations for my early American history class as “professional development opportunities.” After all, they might argue, it is I whom am the professional in the classroom and it should be my students who learn from me.While such an argument is true, it ignores the reciprocal nature of learning in the class room. Furthermore, it is only because I did my job as the professional in the classroom at the beginning of the semester that there is now a room filled with professionals who are learning from each other.

While working in teams, my students have done significant research on topics they choose. As part of their responsibility, each team needs to teach the class the essential points of the material they studied. And they are required to incorporate active learning techniques as part of their lesson planning.

Initially, most students looked at this requirement as a short presentation—20 minutes maximum. But my expectation was that the presentation should be a minimum of one class period. Some presentations will last two or three periods.

The students are following my lead by challenging their colleagues to interact with the material being presented. As I participate in the presentations and reflect on what I learn, I grow as a professional.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD