Discouraged by colleagues who won't go to PD without CEUs.

I've been sharing conferences and professional development opportunities (like EdCampCT, Day of Discovery, TechForum, and more) with my colleagues for years. Most are free. Yet I am very discouraged and upset by the response I get from many of my colleagues: "Will we get CEU's for this? If not, I'm not going."

This is sad. As educators, we should know better and be more motivated to go and learn to improve ourselves as professionals. Too many times, I see teachers attending really good, quality training, and not paying attention. They are only there to get their mandatory CEU requirements completed. They don't want to, or in some cases, care to learn anything new. Some of the veteran teachers also have the attitude of "what can they teach me?"

I want to improve myself as an educator. As a paramedic and engineer I did the same thing. I went beyond what I have to do for certification requirements and learned all I could. I took extra classes and went to conferences. I read journals on my profession.

Now, as a professional educator, I want to learn as much as I can. I read journals, spend time on Twitter learning from other educators, and attend conferences and unconferences. I even attend many virtual conferences. I am always learning and I always feel that I have something more to learn. I wish all educators felt this way.