As our school shifts to 1:1 next year, I find myself continuing to question how to support our teachers and students effectively and to my best ability. As an instructional technology coordinator, I have the privilege of planning and implementing professional development for staff in my building. My position is unique that I am .4 instructional technology coordinator and .6 English teacher. With this, I get the best of both worlds: working with students and working with staff. The biggest obstacle with this position is finding the time to do both well.
With 1:1 on the horizon, we are trying to figure out our best approach for supporting staff and creating resources that are effective and relevant. For my grad school class, we were asked to create a blog and pose a question to our assigned group. I am taking advantage of the fact that many of my colleagues are in my class, so my question for you is this:
In your opinion, what is the best way to help staff learn how to utilize devices in their classrooms in order to enhance and transform learning? What works for you as a learner? Guided digital PD? Videos? Direct instruction? Workshop style instruction? What do teachers need in order to feel confident and move from their starting point, A, to the next point, B?
While everyone has a different Point A to Point B, I believe their are two effective ways to engage staff. Regardless of how I build the PD experience, I always try to start with the why?
ReplyDelete1. Model Student-Centered Learning during professional development. I like the idea of using HyperDocs as a framework for exploration and collaboration.
2. Build just in time learning experiences using Google Docs / Google Sites. These resources should still start with sound pedagogy, but can also focus on the how.
Time and modeling... and more time.
ReplyDeleteSteve's comment about modeling student centered learning is spot on. I crave the time to watch my fellow professionals efficiently integrating technology into the classroom, not just telling me about a useful tool, but demonstrating it's capabilities real time. When I attend PD that does this for me, I am usually able to quickly transfer the lesson to my own classes.
Additionally, we absolutely all need time to rework our curriculum and lessons to adapt to the 1:1 environment. Over the past few years, I have collected more resources than I will ever have time to explore and implement. I appreciate recommendations that come with specific details about how the resource has promoted student learning, and I am always grateful to the trainers who give us time to talk with colleagues and begin integrating whatever we have learned into actual materials for our students.
Rebecca and Steve - I agree with your thoughts regarding modeling. It is so nice to see something like student centered learning in action and then use what you experience in your own classroom. I also wonder how we can give people more time to visit classrooms and see student centered learning in action? The lack of time during the day makes this difficult.
ReplyDeleteYes! Some of the most valuable professional development time I have spent is shadowing a student for an entire day and visiting my colleagues classrooms. So valuable, but increasingly harder to do as more and more demands are put on our time...
DeleteMelissa - I like your thinking. Is there a way to create dedicated time for teachers to observe effective 1:1 in real time. Keep up the good, thoughtful work helping 204 staff successfully integrate tech into our classrooms. Thanks! :-)
"In your opinion, what is the best way to help staff learn how to utilize devices in their classrooms in order to enhance and transform learning? What works for you as a learner? Guided digital PD? Videos? Direct instruction? Workshop style instruction?"
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I really think it's a combination of all of the above. As a teacher, you know how important it is to differentiate to your learners. I think the same case can be made for how your teachers learn about technology. Mix it up! Stay active on the latest trends! And more importantly, share what's working the best for others.
I think you're really lucky to have the position where you can experience tech with your students and share with teachers.
Yes, a combination is the way to go, Scott. We struggle to get some people to buy in to different PD options. I find that mindset of participants is key.
DeleteI am very lucky to be able to work with both students and teachers. With this, I am learning every day!
Shadowing a student all day sounds like a great way to learn about what's going through their minds before, during, and after class. I think I would have a hard time sitting in my seat all period all day. I try to consider that when I'm teaching in order to give the students some options for movement.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I think about this a lot during our own PD. If I'm feeling restless or distracted, I try to analyze what in my own classroom might be causing a similar reaction in my students. I am most engaged when I am given clear instructions and then time to work on something that I am personally interested in and/or feel I will be able to implement into my classroom. Finding ways to regularly create this engagement for my students is something I am hoping 1:1 will help me with, especially when it comes to providing choice and immediate work time.
DeleteI personally like to have mini-workshops available to use to see what we could use in our particular classes. No two teachers are the same and our curriculums are so vastkly different. I don't think I would benefit much as a PE teacher learning about turning in papers online but would love to see how technology cab be used in other ways for our classes. I can't imagine a time where our PE classes would bring their laptops to PE....where the heck would we keep them safe since we have no where to place them ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome point, Shelby. PE is tough as storage and safety of the device are difficult to manage. Storage bins/lockers for the Chromebooks would be beneficial, but as you said, I am not sure how they would use their Chromebook in the gym.
DeleteI wonder if there are options out there for tracking healthy living - eating, exercising, etc. From there, this can be an enrichment activity for students and gives an option for Chromebook usage for PE, just at a different capacity than other classes.
I also wonder if there are other things PE teachers can make digital for students who are injured and cannot participate or students who were absent for a class. Do any PE conferences provide the workshops you discussed? I would love to learn more....