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A New Appreciation for #carPD by Karen Terlecky
My husband would say I’m a complicated traveler. When I’m in a car, I always bring a large bag of entertainment for myself (much like I used to do for our children). The bag contains items that will keep me entertained and amused during the trip:
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iPad for playing word games and staying current on my social networking sites
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at least one book and my Kindle for reading
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a small knitting bag with several simple projects
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stockpiled “Jumbles” from our newspaper that I saved for this exact purpose
But this summer, my many travels (for professional reasons) found this bag staying at home because I had no need for it. Instead, I had my fellow travelers to energize and motivate my thinking in the form of #carPD. #carPD started as a fun hashtag on twitter between a group of friends, but it became so much more than that.
If Merriam-Webster would ever adopt this hashtag as a new word in their dictionary, the definition might read something like:
“When two or more Nerdy Book Club members gather in a car for the purpose of traveling to a destination in order to further their learning, and along the way, additional professional development occurs during the time participants are enclosed together in the car for their journey.”
#carPD is an example of the truest form of professional development. It occurs as an interest-based conversation and allows the participants to dig in deeper to topics of high interest for them over extended periods of time.
This summer I have traveled four different times to destinations for learning. In June, I went to the All Write Summer Institute in Indiana (round-trip of 7 hours). July was particularly busy: I traveled to NerdCampBC in Michigan (round-trip of over 10 hours due to dodging tornadoes going there and the freeway being shut down coming home), Chicago for a presentation (we flew in, but then traveled with our host in her car around the city for over 3 hours), and a Choice Literacy writing retreat here in Ohio (3 hours round-trip). That is a total of over 23 hours in a car. Can you imagine the conversations and learning that took place in those 23 hours?!!
I was actually the driver for two of these professional opportunities, but during the trips when I was a passenger, I made sure to have my iPad open so that I could capture any big ideas I might want to hold on to for future consideration. So many great ideas would float around the car, I needed a way to hold on to them so I wouldn’t forget.
A wide range of topics was covered, such as book titles and recommendations, technology that would help our students create and connect beyond the four walls of the classroom, book titles, Evernote as a tool to track student learning, book titles, apps that we needed to explore as teachers, book titles, PD we had been involved in elsewhere and sharing our learning, book titles, ideas about classroom setup, book titles, current thinking about word study and assessment connected to it, book titles, processing our learning after leaving the various locations, book titles, learning about ourselves as writers and making a connection to the young writers in our classrooms, book titles, the importance of advocacy for our students, book titles, how best to dialogue with colleagues at school, book titles, planning for read aloud, book titles, building reading communities (with students and adults), book titles, digital writing and all its opportunities, book titles, our role in Public Education, book titles, blogging with students, book titles, writing communities, book titles, fads in education, book titles, twitter talks, book titles, #cyberPD (Who Owns the Learning), book titles.
The list could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we talked about the things of high interest to us and the engagement of the learners in the car was off the charts. Sometimes there were even multiple conversations occurring. That’s when things would get tricky, trying to tune into more than one learning point at the same time. Typical conversations generally have their ebbs and flows, but I noticed that in #carPD, there was mostly only “flow.”
For me, the biggest gift of #carPD this summer has been the laughter and the ability to learn more about each other personally. Time to know one another, time to learn together, and time to laugh together – what an amazing way to grow professionally! The laughter and building of community has actually been a great take-away for me as I look ahead to planning for future professional development.
So, if you have the opportunity to travel with colleagues, Nerdy Book Club members or not, seize it! The professional development you will receive in the car reaches far beyond the venue of the conference or workshop. #carPD has been an integral part of my learning this summer!!
Karen Terlecky teaches 5th grade language arts in Dublin, Ohio. She would like to thank her fellow travelers and #carPD members for their inspiration this summer. A huge thanks to Cathy Mere, Franki Sibberson, Tony Keefer, Julie Johnson, Cindy Minnich, Katie Strawser, Stephanie Shouldis, Katie DiCesare, Jen Burton, and Karen Szymusiak (all of whom are Nerdy Book Club members as well) for contributing to my #carPD this summer, as well as helping me remember ALL the topics we discussed as I was writing this post.
Nerdy Book Club 
Did #carPD with @jellyrace as we traveled to and from Reading Camp Calvert every day for a week. It gave us time to talk about what we wanted to share that day in camp and then how things went with our campers….Funny, I never thought of it as PD but it sure was!
Hi Ann – those little moments in the car can really change us profoundly, even when we don’t expect it. So glad you had this time each day.
I want to be a part of these roadtrips. They sound awesome. I agree that any opportunity you get to travel or meet with likeminded people is always inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Marilyn – road trips are always fun, but road trips while learning and laughing with friends is invaluable ! Thanks for stopping by!
So jealous! I spent well over 23 hours in a car this summer, but it was driving three of my four kids to camps, sporting events/practices, the community pool, and friend’s houses and very little professional conversation occurred (more like, “Stop arguing with each other and listen to the radio”:).
Kidding aside, my oldest daughter and I had some very insightful conversations about books while driving the long miles this summer. We talked about The Secret Tree, Hide and Seek, The Danger Box, Turtle in Paradise, and many other good books. We talked about conflict, what we can learn about characters from their stories, why setting is so important to a story, and books that we want to read before summer ends and school starts. If I wasn’t driving, I would have taken notes, but we did share book titles and snippets of our conversation with other young neighborhood readers (and of course Mom, who just finished reading Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library – our recommendation).
Karen, thank you for sharing!
What an amazing conversation to have with your daughter!! She’s already a #nerdybookclub member!!
Karen, this is a wonderful post. I love #carPD! Wish we all could do it more often.
So much learning!
Karen – love that you were part of my #carPD !!!!!
So glad to be part of your #carPD this summer. 🙂 I always love hanging out with you. Now, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t have my iPad open to take notes on our conversation. Next time.
Julie – I responded once to you; not sure why it didn’t go through the first time. But I am so very glad we got to share #carPD time as well. Add to that #hockinghillsPD and you have some pretty impressive conversations. Time to plan the next road trip!!
Love this! And lucky you to spend quality #carPD with so many amazing educators! (Trying to compliment without jealousy!) But what I am really looking forward to are all those blog posts about all the topics covered in your #carPD — your #carPD cohort can help with that! So many great conversations, I can feel the excitement in the car rides. True passion and learning. Thanks Karen!
Michelle – You are right. I need to spend some time putting the thinking down in a blog post or two. I love that we all share the same passion for learning wherever it occurs!!
I have engaged in #carPD many times with colleagues on the way to conferences or meetings but never thought of it in those terms. I always looked upon the experience as time for stimulating conversations that build professional bonds. Thank you for sharing.
Carol, #carPD and stimulating conversations are one and the same We just came up with a fun hashtag for it. So much great PD happens when we’re really not even paying attention. Having these big conversations come as naturally as breathing, right?! 🙂
Until you wrote this post we never thought of our time in the car as PD but of course it is. Typically, one of us drives while the other takes notes. Thanks for reminding us to appreciate the moments we have with our colleagues.
Clare and Tammy – when you think of all those small moments spent in the car with colleagues, the time begins to add up quickly. You two are so lucky to have that thinking time together.