One of the massive cornerstones of my professional development is the pedagogical/teaching-related PROBLEM. Luckily I have plenty of problems, which ensures I don’t usually get stuck in a PD rut.
Back in my beginner years I used to ask my experienced colleagues for help. They were absolutely wonderful and ready to give me good advice, although most of the time I should have magically turned into a totally different me in order to be able to follow their suggestions.
Another option: methodology books and papers. Evidence-based, scientific, reliable. Love them, they didn’t always seem to be applicable my peculiar circumstances however.
Then teacher blogs were invented, love them too! They often take me closer to my own solutions and I shouldn’t forget about the joy of reading them. But how reliable are they? Practically anyone is allowed to write a blog. (Even me!)
As for studies, research papers and methodology books again, how many times have I heard practising teachers (speaking of authors of those) grumbling that experts should sometimes enter the jungle of real life, everyday classrooms … Do they lose contact with 3D life?
So.. What now?
Ask peers? Dig up the libraries? Blogs?
Or… There’s this The Round thing. The Round is a unique mixture of blogs and books.
I would say you will be better off reading this to have a clearer picture.
The latest publication is really my latest fav (and I’m not paid to write this): Scott Thornbury’s Big Questions in ELT.
You might already his blog An A-Z of ELT .
The blog format allows anyone to comment on the content, the original post is sometimes ‘only’ a trigger for commenters who engage in long dialogues and exploit the concept in question. That guarantees a certain quality, the worldwide collaboration of practitioners and the insight of and expert, you feel it, don’t you?
The outcome, this book, is particular handy for coping with my down to earth practical teaching misery.
And it’s price? Oh, come on! <3
What do YOU think? What’s your PD magic bullet?