Educators at four large Brooklyn high schools decided to do something different this year for Election Day professional development: They pooled their resources so that teachers and paraprofessionals got instruction in their specific subject areas while meeting colleagues from neighboring schools.

“Sometimes there’s a resistance to coming out of your own school and a resistance to professional development,” said vocal music teacher Cheryl Johnson of Edward R. Murrow HS. “But it’s a fresh thing when you get new people in the room, and you see what you might be able to incorporate from what they’re doing and even what you may be able to do together in the future.”

Each high school hosted professional development workshops for particular disciplines: Music, art, business and social studies were hosted by Murrow; science was hosted at Midwood HS; math at Leon G. Goldstein HS for the Sciences; and English and world languages at James Madison HS. Further, teachers and paraprofessionals had options for each of three workshop sessions at each school.

“PD is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing,” said Alex Redito, a global studies teacher at Murrow, giving the new approach his approval.

“In the past 12 years, we had PD from an outside, contracted agency, with no input from the people on the receiving end,” said Murrow Chapter Leader James Duncan.

The idea for the combined PD arose from the contact among the faculty at the four schools at last year’s Brooklyn SING!, an annual competition among student-run musical productions, Murrow Principal Alan Barge told the educators at the kickoff breakfast.

“We wanted to continue brainstorming across schools, concentrating on specific subjects and collaborating with other schools that we know are all about student engagement,” said Barge.

Educators and administrators in the various departments at the four schools spoke to each other about what kind of professional learning opportunities would help teachers the most.

The consensus, said Duncan, was that it should be led by teachers. “If you’re not on the field, you’ll never know how to coach the team,” he said.

Orchestral music teacher Melissa Williams of Midwood HS, in her third year of teaching, said she appreciated the opportunity to meet her counterparts at other schools. “I’m pretty isolated in my school,” she said. “I’m the only one doing what I do, so just to see the Murrow concert planning meeting will help me plan my own program.”

Angel Rose, a paraprofessional at Murrow, said she enjoyed the Instructional Support Services workshop, which included both teachers and paras. “This is not the usual way we do PD, but it was nice to hear what the teachers think. They have great ideas,” Rose said.

Duncan said he and his colleagues met their goal: to deliver a meaningful and enjoyable experience to educators at all four schools.

“The information we shared will now be shared in many classrooms, enriching the lives of many teachers, paraprofessionals and related service providers — and many students,” he said.