Hours-long lectures on dry, vague subjects like content or the intricacies of reading instruction, presented by administrators or coaches who haven't been in the classroom for years, are what some teachers apprehensively think of when they think of "professional development workshops."
Most don't think of a party with strobe lights, hands-on activities and a well-known teacher turned rapper as the keynote speaker - but that's exactly the atmosphere that Lauren Swanson and Chelsie Durham hoped to provide in this summer's "Teach Like A Boss: The Summer Session" workshop.
"We found that the professional development [workshops] we've been to were good but they are often curriculum heavy," Swanson, a third grade teacher at Lakeside Academy, said. "Instead, our workshop is for teachers, by teachers. It's other teachers helping each other feel more successful in their classrooms."
The workshop consisted of breakout sessions of hot topics including classroom management and student engagement, topics that Swanson and Durham say aren't always included in most teacher training.
And relationships are the most important part of teaching, said Dwayne Reed.
Reed, a teacher from "America's Favorite Rapping Teacher," is a Chicago educator whose YouTube video "Welcome to the 4th Grade" became a viral sensation.
The video, shot before his first year teaching, shows Reed in a classroom, talking about science and math. He also promises to treat his students respectfully.
"I'll always greet you with a smile. I'll always try to make the lessons worthwhile," Reed said in the video. "And when you do good work, I'll acknowledge it."
His keynote address encouraged educators to figure out who they are, who their students are and who their classroom is collectively - as a family.
"In education, relationships matter most," Reed said. "Relationships with students are the most essential part of your teaching career."
Reed encouraged the 100 elementary and middle school teachers from across the region to look for ways to engage and build relationships, even one-on-one with their students.
Ask your students about their interests, their home life, what they like to do and how their day is going, Reed said.
"In the same way that students want to truly know their teachers, they want to be known," he said. "Ask your students, what are their interests, what excited them, what is their story."
The Teach Like A Boss program originated as a Teacherpreneur project. The local program, in its fifth year, is an initiative by the Public Education Foundation to support innovative ideas by teachers.
Swanson and Durham said they first thought of starting a blog to share tips with other teachers, but the idea soon morphed into a business. Now they host smaller-scale training events and large-scale workshops such as this week's full-day event at The Edney.
As a Teacherpreneur imitative, the program got start-up funds and was able to collect donations from sponsors for the event.
Annie Henderson, a first grade teacher at East Ridge Elementary, said she heard about the event from other Hamilton County teachers and it looked like fun. Teachers are required to earn a certain number of continuing education or professional development credits each year and depending on when their license is up for renewal, but they don't always get to chose what they attend.
"That looks like a fun event that I can still get information from," Henderson said.
She and another veteran teacher, Heather Green, a second grade teacher at Bess T. Shepherd Elementary, said they are pretty comfortable coming up with exciting ways to engage their students, but they still benefited from Thursday's breakout session "Engagement Made Easy."
"Most of my ideas have come from years of experiences and other teachers," Henderson said.
Green added that though sometimes professional development can be boring, it's easy to support teachers.
"Ask us what we want and what we need help with," she said.
Edna Varner, a veteran educator and pillar of Hamilton County's education community, was amazed at Thursday's event.
"It's so easy to have relevant professional development when you ask teachers what they need and when you're in the classroom, observing them and what's going on," she said. "This is just real teachers who are sharing what works in the classroom."
Contact Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.