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Activity #1
- Questions and Issues
Activity# 2 - Peer Input on Methods and Resources
Activity #1 - Questions and Issues
Purpose: To help individual teachers identify questions and issues regarding technology, teaching, learning and student achievement. This activity asks teachers to actually write down some of the things that "jumped out" at them during the "Setting the Stage" activities. It helps to get several important questions "on the table" so participants can begin building their professional development plan to address that encompasses big ideas and not just isolated skills and knowledge.
Preparation:
Be sure that participants have saved their work and reflections from Setting
the Stage activities. If the School Improvement Plan was not used or discussed
during that phase, be sure that participants have access to it and are
familiar with it. Provide access to Individual
Technology Professional Development Plan (Parts 1 and 2) - either
online or in hard copy
Process:
- Tell participants that it is now time to bring all the good thinking they have been doing to bear on the development of an individual professional development plan. Remind them of some of the activities, reflections and dialogues they have been involved in and remind them of the district and/or school initiatives included in the School Improvement Plan. Ask them to take some quiet time to reflect on and identify what they see as some of the most important issues and questions that have been raised. They should jot them down on Individual Technology Professional Development Plan (Part 1). Either provide them a hard copy of this page or give them clear instructions on how to access it via the web.
- You may use group meeting
time to do this or make the assignment and ask them to complete it by
a certain date. It is important that whichever way you choose to do
this activity, you stress the importance of reviewing the documents
and activities mentioned above. (All of this is potential portfolio
content.) The best course is for participants to have all of that in
front of them and to spend 15 minutes or so reviewing it and gathering
their thoughts and then another 10-15 minutes jotting down their thoughts
on Individual Technology Professional Development Plan (Part 1).
- Next, each participant should
use Individual Technology Professional Development Plan (page2) to brainstorm
several methods by which they might answer the questions or address
the issue. This is likely to require another 15 minutes and like the
assignment above can be completed during a group meeting or individually
between meetings. Emphasize that this is a bit of a brainstorming activity.
They should propose a couple of methods for each question/issue and
try not to be limited by their past experience. This would be a good
time to identify potentially effective methods and not dwell on whether
or not the resource/support/opportunity is easily available. Once effective
methods are identified, we can problem-solve ways to implement them.
(Part of the reason for this is to encourage participants to see a broader
range of activities as legitimate professional development approaches
and not be stuck with a concept that equates professional development
strictly with training and workshop methods - or the "teach me"
mentality.)
Activity# 2 - Peer Input on Methods and Resources
Purpose: To enlist the thinking of colleagues to review the methods each participant identified and to suggest additional resources and methods. Pages 1 and 2 of Individual Technology Professional Development Plan were completed by individuals. Now is the time to check with colleagues to see if they can make suggestions that will expand and refine the thinking. It is also the time to begin giving focus to the Individual Technology Professional Development Plan.
Preparation:
Ensure that each participant has completed Individual Technology Professional
Development Plan parts 3 - 6. Provide a hard copy of Individual Technology
Professional Development Plan pages 3 -6.
Process:
- This must be done by pairs
or small groups of participants. One way is to get the entire group
together and have them pair up. Give the first person of each pair up
to five minutes to explain and share the contents of pages one and two
to their partner. During this time the partner should listen carefully
and jot down ideas about other methods and resources that might be helpful
to the first person. They should be careful to refrain from speaking
to the greatest extent possible so that the first person can fully explain
their thinking and not be interrupted.
- After five minutes, call
"time." Now is the time for the partner to do most of the
talking. They should make suggestions, point to additional resources
and perhaps ask clarifying or thought-provoking questions while the
first person takes notes. (This does not mean that either is forbidden
to talk during the five minutes dedicated to the other person. It just
means that most of the talking should be done by the person designated
for that five-minute period.)
- After this first round of
sharing, the pairs should be broken up and rearranged and the process
repeated, giving everyone another opportunity to elicit additional input.
- Another way to do this would
be to put participants in small groups of three or four. The above procedure
can be modified so that one person has a chance to present for five
minutes and then the other members of the groups have 5-7 minutes to
respond, together, with suggestions. This can be repeated until each
person has had a chance to present their ideas and receive feedback.
- Follow-up: Following the
above activity, each person should take approximately 15 minutes to
reflect upon what they just heard using Individual Technology Professional
Development Plan (part 4) to prompt and record their reflections. These
reflections and the pages that preceded (pages 1-3) will serve as the
basis for developing the specific objectives, activities, timeline,
assessment, etc. of the Individual Technology Professional Development
Plan.
- Hand out Individual Technology
Professional Development Plan (part 5) and discuss the examples. Ask
participants for their ideas for alternative measurements of success,
possible portfolio elements and/or other activities they might suggest.
This gives them a little practice in thinking through the form. It also
gives them two very different examples of how to design action plans
for objectives as well as two very different examples of objectives.
- Make copies of the blank forms, Individual Technology Professional Development Plan part 6, available and/or give clear instructions about how to download and use web-based forms.
Click here for the Individual Technology Professional Development Plan