Walesca's Recommendations

http://foundation.walmart.com/apply-for-grants/local-giving.

http://www.teachinglikeits2999.com/2011/05/idont-have-ipads-writing-ipadtechnology.html

Module 4 Comments

Marlisa,

I absolutely agree with reform strategies.  Too often, the one-shot workshops never get past that, the one-time introduction.  It’s easy to attend workshops and feel highly motivated by the material presented. Unfortunately, without support and mentorship many professional development strategies are never implemented in the classroom.  Your idea of providing an online format to allow teachers to preview or become familiar with the professional development being offered is a great plan, this will allow actual time to practice strategies and ask questions during team meetings.  Working out hectic schedules can be challenging.  Many schools have grade level or content based team planning in the daily schedule. Some teachers do not want to give up their planning periods, but if the material being presented is relevant, there is hope for success.

Module 4

 What are your thoughts about effective professional development strategies? Describe a professional development opportunity that led to your adoption of new teaching practices. 

Let me begin by saying that I am not a classroom teacher, so I do not have much experience in the arena of professional development. However, I completed 30 and 75-hour clinicals in a PDS under a cooperating teacher. I'd have to say that these were my "professional development" opportunities, particularly my 75-hour clinical which was completed at Mannington Middle School. 

Throughout the course of my undergraduate senior seminars, I had the opportunity to listen to several speakers that instructed us on how to effectively use emerging technologies in the classroom. Moreover, many of these speakers would instruct us in that particular technology. 

The most influential speaker persuaded me to adopt the use of multimedia in the classroom. (This is probably the reason why I'm in graduate school right now.) More specifically, the speaker showed us how to successfully integrate video as a method for capturing the learners' attention. She demonstrated these practices by using them on her present audience, (which was my clinical experience class) and showing us how much more engaged we were following the multimedia video. We were then challenged to implement multimedia in our host teacher's classroom.

As for my thoughts on professional development strategies, I believe that there are several strategies that are superior to others. First of all, reform activities are being touted as more productive than the workshop counterpart. I believe that the former is a better overall strategy because it can take place during the day, and allows for more engagement and collective participation. Not that I believe workshops to be counterproductive, but reform activities (such as: mentoring, resource centers, and teacher collaboratives) seem to be focused more on collaboration of content, and I believe that collaboration works best. 

Job-embedded professional development also seems to be more closely aligned with reform activities. This type of professional development is much more productive in that it takes place in the school and during and/or near instruction. In order to ensure that professional development content is making its way into the actual classroom, it makes more sense to implement strategies in the classroom first-hand. 

What is the PD strategy or strategies you plan to use in your Technology Integration Initiative? How will this strategy or strategies help you achieve the outcomes for your TI Initiative?  What will  you need to do to provide leadership to successful professional development (here you might think back on the results and your analysis of your Leadership Assessment and/or the  resources/challenges present in the context for delivering professional development)?

The foremost strategy that I will be using to implement my technology integration initiative is reform activities. I plan to develop an informative session for delivering my professional development content, which will be available in an online format. The purpose of this is to allow teachers to sift through the information beforehand, in an effort to eliminate the redundant PD information. 


After this, I plan to have teachers experiment with the chosen technology in order to familiarize themselves with it. A collaborative PD meeting will be held after this for clarifications, questions, etc. I would then have teachers branch off into content groups to devise the best possible way to implement this technology into their instruction and lesson plans.(It is my hope that the teamwork element would push them to develop great ways to implement the technology in their classrooms.) I also plan to have the teachers implement their technology-integrated lessons during actual classroom time. Following their experimentation, we would reconvene to discuss what worked, what didn't work, and what you would do differently. At this time, all the various content teachers would have the opportunity to share their experience with the technology and any suggestions they have for their colleagues. 


In order to successfully deliver my technology initiative, I plan to set up the professional development experience in a way that is accommodating to the busy and hectic schedules of teachers. I also would need to listen very closely to hear what is working in the classrooms-this includes communicating with each group of content teachers to ensure they are absorbing as much of the information as possible. 

Please also share any literature or resources you are using to refine your focus and develop your plan.

What Makes Professional Development Effective
Job-Embedded Professional Development
Principles and Strategies for Coaching and Mentoring 

**Also, sorry for the lateness- I didn't realize this was due during spring break.

Module 4 Comments

Excellent posts and meaningful synthesis of the course readings.

Michael,
I agree with job embedded professional development being beneficial to mentor, mentee and classroom students.  When mentors are proficient, involved, and display a passion for their profession it creates a firm foundation for leadership.  You state that you will use a multi-faceted professional development approach. Do you plan to offer teachers a choice in their professional development?   Your technology initiative will provide social studies teachers with support and also give them a voice.  I plan to visit the “a-z teacher stuff” site and recommend to colleagues.  Have you thought about grant opportunities?

Walesca,
I have used all of the professional development strategies you’ve listed, and I’m especially fond of Edmodo!  I’m still using Edmodo to create connections and teach digital citizenship to elementary students.  Right now, I’m connecting students in WV with students in GA.  The students are beyond excited and so are the collaborating teachers. I’m anxious to hear about your results regarding teacher use of Edmodo for collaboration.  I’ve tried some teacher groups, but often they see it as something extra. I believe it will take some creativity and ideas that are relevant to specific teaching areas. I agree that support, best practices or tested strategies, and the necessary tools are crucial for professional development success.  Do you have any specific grants in mind that will help with your TI (Edmodo)?

Adam,

Excellent description of effective professional development strategies for your specific context. You’ve described an environment that depicts the teacher playing a vital role in identifying the needs that will impact student learning and behavior. I use the vocabulary method you’ve mentioned, and it is very effective. But, I’ve never had the personal defense pd that you’ve described.  Personally, I’m thankful for teachers (like you) that are willing and passionate about working with students in Transitional High Schools.  I’m really looking forward to reading more about your ipad initiative!  Great resource (free educational apps), I’ve used Science360.  Great plan to use a technology integration specialist that is willing to provide “free” pd sessions!

Module 4: Professional Development Strategies

Professional Development 

In the very early stage of my current teaching career, I have already been very lucky to have learned a few very important professional development strategies.  With this help and the help of the course readings, I have started to form an idea about the types of Professional Development that works well with me.  

While observing my host teacher and getting a grasp for his educational practices, I can honestly say I have learned so much.  For example:  I am always trying to think of new ways to get the students thinking about different concepts, some of which may be really complicated, and some of which may seem irrelevant in the student’s minds.  As I observed this teacher, I’ve realized that most of his teaching practices are really designed to do just that: help kids learn to think.  He is able to explain the concepts in a way that is intriguing to the students, then helps them to process the information, and explain it to them in their own way. From these observations and as the course readings have explained, Professional Development is very beneficial when it’s comes during real time classroom hours.  Job-Embedded Professional Development is a very crucial concept and one that I think is extremely beneficial.  From watching my host teacher provide excellent lessons, as a new teacher observing a veteran teacher, this has truly given me inspiration and has made a huge impact on how I want to help shape my lessons.  Moreover, this has taught me many new ways to make my classroom more learner centered.  

From my perspective, this professional development opportunity worked very well because I am able to observe not only the teacher, but also the students.  When something would hit home with the students, it was quite evident by their large response.  Throughout the duration of these observations, I have took notes and described what I thought was working very well to convey the subject matter and also get the students truly thinking and engaged.  Because this is job-embedded professional development experience, I am able to learn as a teacher while the learning process is happening.  I thought this was an excellent teaching development resource.  

The professional development strategy I plan to use in my Technology Integration Initiative will be a multi faceted approach to professional development.  It will pull from a lot of different directions, in an attempt to take away the positive aspects from many different types of development.  The foundation of the technology integration initiative will be the creation of a state wide social studies association, like many other academic groups already have, and from that help to asses the needs of teachers around the state.  In addition to the association, a message board will be created to explore gaps in statewide technology integration in social studies classrooms.  However, this is also where teachers can share example lesson plans and  other resources such as informative websites, post ongoing school class projects, and then the creation of a conference to provide informative workshops to integrate technology into the social studies classroom.   The ultimate goal will be to have visiting teachers come to classrooms and observe and learn from teachers who have high standards in technology integration into the classroom, so they can take back to their classrooms new ideas to help the learning environment.  

To provide leadership in professional development, from my current teaching situation (student teacher), I think the best way I could contribute would be to fully document new tools that can be used in the classroom and learn how to successfully share those teaching tools with others and share what has worked for me.  Also, helping to arrange workshops and teaching observations for other teachers would also be a way that I could really help to be a leader of professional development. 

For other academic studies, below is a list of links that are similar to what I would like to help create in WV:

The West Virginia Council of teachers of Mathematics

http://www.wvctm.com/ 

West Virginia Science Teachers Association

http://www.wvsta.org/

West Virginia Foreign Language Teachers Association

www.wvflta.org

A to Z Teacher Stuff Message Board

http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/

Pro Teachers Social Studies Message Board

http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=32

Module 4: Professional Development Strategies

These questions will guide participation in our Blog (remember, you can post more than once):

1.       What are your thoughts about effective professional development strategies? Describe a professional development opportunity that led to your adoption of new teaching practices.  

     I am not a classroom teacher but have assisted in several classes as a mentor, speaker, and teacher’s aide. I am currently teaching substance abuse prevention in our schools and I really like it.

My thoughts on effective professional development strategies are as follows. I will use an example to convey my thoughts I recently received a grant of 12000.00 for substance abuse prevention for my county. I decided to invite a group of people that included teachers, parents, and youth to the table to discuss what would be the best and effective strategy for the use of these funds.  One idea was to develop a Substance abuse prevention coalition that would include youth and adults, another was to bring trained people to help educate the group on drugs trends, evidence based curriculum and to provide the opportunity to attend the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) conference.

 After attending the (CADCA) conference several off us realized that in order to better serve our community or our youth we needed to be trained effectively with the right strategies and tools in order to incorporate the curriculum tested at the conference. The curriculum's like HALO designed for children ages 3 to 5. Second Step Middle School and Too Good for Drugs was for high school students.  Through this professional development opportunity we now have a very active Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, five curriculum's for our schools and tech support & training; we are currently   training our health teachers, counselors and youth to implement them in our schools. With that said my thoughts on effective professional development strategies are, provide the opportunity if you can teachers really like when you bring them new ideas or ways to incorporate their teaching practices.

      

2.       What made this professional development opportunity effective from your perspective?

Being able to attend the CADCA Conference with several of my teachers and two high school students was great! They had a great deal to say about the conference and the experience. From my perspective, it gave us all something a little different than just attending facility senate and typical Math, Reading and English workshops. This was an opportunity to look at professional development from a substance abuse, treatment, and very modern digital side. The youth also walked away with a new campaign to try at their school.

3.      What is the PD strategy or strategies you plan to use in your Technology Integration Initiative?

I am already using several things with my youth team, we use poll everywhere, Go to meetings, and my favorite Skype. Our latest adventure is working with our AP Government teacher to do everything on www.edmodo.com.

Edmodo is a blogging tool that we are using for homework, chats, and research project much like this one. Our goal is to see if we can successfully integrate other teachers to try it.

4.      How will this strategy or strategies help you achieve the outcomes for your TI Initiative? 

For my TI initiative I will help integrate Edmodo into the classrooms on a regular basis. I will do this by providing information to teachers like general blogging questions, asking them to share homework ideas, designing their blog and adding their groups of choice. I will begin by working with the teachers during their planning period any chance we can this may be a little difficult due to all our snow days.  I think that by creating a personal account first teachers can work with this tool at their leisure and then incorporate it into their classes however they see fit.  

5.      What will  you need to do to provide leadership to successful professional development (here you might think back on the results and your analysis of your Leadership Assessment and/or the  resources/challenges present in the context for delivering professional development)?

I plan on taking the lead or at least at first and assisting me will be our AP Government teacher. Once the group is formed then I will let the teachers move on into teaching others if they are comfortable doing so. I plan on being available in case they need any assistance. This is also a tool I plan to use to send updates on drug trends, trainings, and coalition meeting reminders. Everyone wins.

Please also share any literature or resources you are using to refine your focus and develop your plan. I will use:

www.edmodo.com

www.cadca.org

http://ebooks.cadca.org/gallery

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

― Arthur C. Clarke

Module 4: Professional Development Strategies

Professional development is key to maintaining a continually educated, modern, and effective teaching faculty. I have found that the most effective professional development sessions in my school focus on specific and proven ways to teach students with different disabilities. These methods must have been proven to be effective and efficient. My school, Transitional High School, exists to service the disorderly students of Harrison county that would otherwise have been either expelled or a constant disruption to the normal operation of another high school. These students often carry with them an identified disorder and accompanied by an IEP or Section 504. Meeting the needs of these students all at the same time within our classrooms is a challenge. The key designing the most effective professional development (PD) is meeting the needs of the teachers participating in the PD. A needs assessment is needed to identify the proper topics for PD. Another effective professional development topic for my school would be how to prevent classroom disruptions, deescalate the disruptions, and how to discipline students so that the negative behaviors are reduced or eliminated. Discipline is a highly needed PD topics, because of our highly transient student population we are constantly receiving students who are in need of structure and discipline.

Last year, I had a need in my classroom to help my students develop a better understanding of vocabulary terms. I used the old and tired "here are vocab, define the vocab, now take a quiz on the vocab" method. It was not effective at all. After attending a PD session on building student vocabulary. The session focused on using a worksheet with sections for a definition, description of the term in the students' own words, a drawing, and section for the students to use the word in a sentence. It seemed like a simple worksheet and I have my students use the vocabulary in class discussions, but after having the students use these worksheets they performed much better on their vocab quizzes. The PD opportunity was effective, because it meet a need of mine to help my students not only learn but to also raise their grades. Another effective PD experience was my first PD session I ever attended. I attended the session on my first day at my first permanent teaching position was on personal defense and restraints. It made me a bit nervous, but I still use that training to this day and has help me defend myself, another teacher, principal, and my students from other violent and drugged students. During my first semester I experienced a restraint where a student slammed a police officer into a bank of lockers while filling a warrant for the students' arrest that resulted in a tumble on the hallway floor. These learning experiences may not have all involved teaching, but they were needed in my school.

For my PD initiative, I will focus on practical iPad training that is driven by the needs of my teachers. We have a set of 20 iPads for my school on a mobile cart. It can be difficult to access the iPads when we want them, but most of the teachers in my school like using the iPads in the classroom, but find it difficult to find and learn how to use new educational apps. Some apps have been provided for us, but we also have the option to purchase news apps on an individual level. I want to give the teachers opportunities to choose their own apps to focus on in pairs (i.e., two math teachers paired together). In this way, there is a support system between teachers in the same discipline. The school iPads are available and have been introduced, but I don't feel that they have truly been "integrated." By helping teachers identify new apps for their classroom that the teacher is interested in, I hope to influence the teachers to integrate the iPads into their classroom to meet the CSOs and to interest the students in learning. My TI initiative is to fully integrate the iPads into the classrooms on a regular basis. I hope to do this by ordering $10 iTunes gift cards for each teacher to use in the PD sessions, teach them how to use the cards and download apps that must be paid for, and utilize the aid of a technology specialist in Harrison county that our school has used before. She has offered to help us use the iPads and is available for free PD sessions. I will be acting as a leader by making myself available for helping the participating teachers in choosing apps and using them. I will also be checking in on the participants periodically to make sure there are no snags integrating the iPads and help problem solve any issues that may arise. 

Some resources I will be using:

Apple Professional Development Catalog

Free/Low Cost Apps for Education

iPad PD - The Three Rs

Free Educational Apps