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Purpose: To help teachers be aware of and help them understand a wider variety of professional development strategies. This will make for richer, more effective Individual Professional Development Plans.
Preparation: After obtaining permission, photocopy several articles from the Summer 1999 issue of the Journal of Staff Development. (Select those that you think might be most intriguing to your participants. Alternately, print selected strategies from the sixteen Powerful Designs/Strategies for Professional Learning listed in Activity #8 in Blueprints.
Process:
- Give two strategies to each participant (Several people may have copies of the same strategy.) Ask participants to read each one, be prepared to give a brief summary explanation of the strategy, and jot their answers to several reflection questions. Use the Sample Reflection Notes page or create your own. This much of the activity may be assigned and completed before a group meeting or may be included as part of a group meeting.
- Next, call the name of one of the strategies and ask the participants who read that strategy tell the rest of the group about it and to give some of their thoughts, using the Sample Reflection Notes page as a reference. Try to get everyone who read that particular strategy involved in the discussion. Continue until all strategies have been discussed.
Follow-up:
Share one or two of the resources listed for Professional Development
Activities and invite participants to browse them for other strategies
that appeal to them. They can either report what they find to other participants
via email/discussion board or at the next group meeting.
Individual Technology Professional Development Plan (Part 2)
If you completed the Individual Technology Professional Development Plan Activities outlined in the previous stage, you have completed the following activity. If not, you may want to modify it to use at this time.
For each item listed on the previous page, identify at least two ways that you could find answers to the questions or gain the skills. Consider a wide variety of methods and resources including:
| Read a book | Read several articles |
| Observe a colleagues classroom | Study a webpage or pages |
| Attend a workshop | Get involved in a professional organization |
| Conduct action research or inquiry | Form a study group |
| Work with a peer coach | Find a mentor |
| Collaborate with a colleague | Team teach |
| Participate in an online discussion group | Take a class (via distance learning, perhaps) |
Aspects of student learning I would like to improve:
Teaching skills I would like to learn/hone:
Technology skills I need:
Other important issues:
Individual Technology Professional Development Plan (Part 3)
Meet with one or more colleagues and share your thoughts on the previous two pages. Ask them for additional ideas? Can they point you to specific resources, i.e. give a book title, point out a mentor, recommend a workshop, identify a webpage? Add their suggestions to your list. Who else might be able to point you toward other appropriate resources?
Notes from discussions with colleagues: