MIDWINTER PARTY A SUCCESS

Technology on Tap


Just a note to say that our scheduled MIDWINTER PARTY was attended by the entire Charles Howitt staff (save three teachers).

It featured good food, beverages and the opportunity to visit four presentation centres to see examples of student learning, using Photo Story, Glogster, Moodle, and Bitstrips along with various Smartboard applications. No formal presentations were shown because staff were encouraged to simply display student samples and speak to their experience within the Teacher Learning and Leadership model.

Our success was, I think, due to the fact that teachers plotted their own on site professional development which was offered during the school day. My thanks to ETFO, the Ministry, our Technology teacher (Alex Macris) along with all those teachers involved for supporting purposeful teacher directed learning.

Tech Talk

"Tech Talk" sessions are now well underway. Twice a month teachers on staff are invited to spend part of their lunch in these informal meetings, were we talk about anything related to technology. Most often the conversations relate to how we can use technology as a tool to support students as learners.

This weeks session was once again a success. Most of todays discussion revolved around using Voicethreads and Wordle in the classroom. It was wonderful to see teachers join in the conversation, ask questions, share ideas and support each other as learners.

The excitement and interest from teachers was high as they explored these web 2.o apps, and thought of ways to use both Voicethreads and Wordle with students.

Thanks to everyone who attended today's session!

A Model of PD that Really Works

Last week I spent a full day at @cgu92's school for the sole purpose of sitting with teachers to plan their upcoming PD sessions.

It's a model that was originally developed by @taniasterling and consists of three stages:
Stage One:  "Give a prep":  Teachers sign up to give up one of their prep periods in order to meet with me (or another PD provider).  Together, we do a candid needs assessment to determine how best to spend Stage Two.
Stage Two: "Get 2 preps":  Teachers receive two prep periods to work with me (and/or another PD provider) during the instructional day, in their own school.  During the two periods, the teachers receive the training and practice that we collaboratively decided upon from Stage One.
Stage Three: "Sharing Carousel":  Weeks after the PD is delivered, all staff members enjoy a carousel party, in which the participating teachers discuss with the rest of staff what they learned through the process.


Key to this process is admin support.
Often the admin team help to organize the first stage of signups; of course the admin are instrumental in arranging and coordinating Stage Two, regardless of where the funding comes from for the supply teachers.  In order to encourage participation, Stage Three might involve dinner or some good snacks provided by admin, which help contribute to the celebration atmosphere.  We tried this model for the first time last year, and it was a tremendous success.  This year we're not only doing it at three other locations, but even tried a cooperative model involving staff from two nearby schools sharing not only their knowledge and leadership but their space as well.

Teachers hearing of  the tao of the document camera
Photo: @cgu92

 I don't want to overstate the day, but it was fantastic, even inspiring, to see all these teachers, giving up their prep periods voluntarily to plan their own professional development.  Talk about empowering!  To have teachers taking control of their own PD was some of the most focussed and motivated discussions I've had in a long time.
Teachers were laying it all on the table:  Their areas of comfort, their areas of need, and what they hoped to gain from their upcoming session.
The major advantages of this model of PD structuring is that I'm seeing teachers who may never have otherwise sought out PD in the area of technology integration.



The factors that make the difference?

1.  Job-embedded:  The PD happens during the instructional day, via release time, as opposed to after school or even a lunch'n'learn.
2.  Personal:  The teachers plan their own PD, based on their individual needs, as opposed to a generic workshop offered, and having teachers sign up.
3.  Location:  At their own school, in their own comfort zones, on their own terms, as opposed to having to account for travel time and a break in their routine.
4.  Follow-up:  More than just a "one-off", this model has both planning and implementation built right in, as well as the all-important reflective component in the celebration carousel at the end.


Fast-forward: Today

Google meets SMART in this interactive lesson plan
Photo: @cgu92

Today was delivery day, where @cgu92 and I both provided the learning that we had previously planned with teachers.  Two of us were both essential, as the learning needs of the teachers were so individualized, even within one topic area.  There was excitement and engagement, and the personal attention to professional development needs made for a safe learning environment in which nobody felt pressured or judged.  We'll try to get some of the participants to leave their own comments at the end of this blog post.


Next steps?
I'd like to see a follow-up that includes co-teaching of the strategies in the classroom with the teacher.  In this way, both teacher and PD-provider can use the immediate feedback from the students to guide the implementation, and plan together the next step.

Setting goals before getting started
Photo: @cgu92

Although the sharing carousel is a great way to celebrate the learning that happened, I'd hate for it to seem like an "end of year party", or summative in any way.
Instead, perhaps built into the carousel could be a process for partnering, where other teachers who were not involved in this round, get to pair up for some mentoring with those who just "finished" their learning.  It would consolidate the learning, and build capacity at the same time, not to mention increase self-efficacy and promote team-building.
Process, not product.

Kudos to @cgu92 for planning and organizing the entire process at this school, and for documenting the process through photos.

I love my job.

Update from Charles Howitt Public School

Yes, the TTLP is still alive and well at Charles Howitt Public School!

We started the New Year off with a Technology Teaching Materials display on February 23rd. The event was sponsored by Scholar's Choice, who offered our teachers no tax along with 10% off on anything from their catalogue.

Teachers were very supportive of the idea of being able to get resources at a discount, but most of them were disappointed that none of the resources on offer were connected to the curriculum in this province.

Are there any Media/Technology resources out there that are designed for this market?...Could creating an Ontario based technology resource for teachers become a future TTLP grant?

Tech Talk

After a brief conversation with Paul, where he told me about schools that have begun technology conversation sessions, I decided to try set up similar "Tech Talk" sessions at my school.

"Tech Talk" is an informal gathering open to all staff where we can meet and talk about anything related to technology and how it can be used to support students. My intention is not to lead these sessions but rather facilitate conversation, encourage others to take the lead, and build a PLN.

Click here to check out the "Tech Talk" Glog I created as a way to let teachers know about the sessions.

Sessions are currently being held twice a month during lunch. So far, the response has been fairly good with a handful of teachers taking part in the first two sessions. While I hope that over time the number of teachers coming to the sessions will increase, I take it as a positive sign that those who attended the first session came back again for the second meeting.

During our first meeting, we talked a bit about Twitter and the use of the Smartboard.

Our second session took place just this week. A simple question from one staff member about "safe sites" for kids to explore led to a great demonstration by our teacher librarian on "link to learning" and what it can offer to our students. While a couple of the teachers had heard of "link to learning" they were not sure what it really was, how to access it, or what it offered. The teachers seemed to find this very valuable and were excited to explore it further on their own time.

It was wonderful to hear from the teachers the next day who said how helpful and informative the sessions have been and how they hope to continue to grow and learn from "Tech Talk".

So what's next... hopefully more teachers attending "Tech Talk" and teachers sharing how their use of technology is supporting their students as learners.

Ramping up

As the calendar year comes to a close it's exciting to look at how things are really starting to ramp up with the TLLP project.
Now that Jennifer has carried out what sounds like a tremendously successful day of job-embedded professional development, Cheryl and I are getting into the details of how a similar day will run at her school.  Administration is completely on-board, recognizing the benefits to staff as well as leveraging some of the monies available for release time.

Some of the equipment we've ordered has already arrived and I've already had some very positive feedback from using the LiveScribe pen.  For running records it's an invaluable tool, completely non-threatening and natural to use.  The portable document cameras should be tremendously effective with mobile device demonstrations in particular.

It's amazing to me the way that small, very subtle changes in approach can have such a big difference in focus.  I say this because of Cheryl's very careful wording of the release time being offered by her administration to support PD:  Instead of "sign up for a technology workshop that interests you", she's made teachers think about the all-important "why", and asked them to consider a student or two who is at level 2 or below, and come to the workshop with that student's specific needs in mind, with the intent of leaving with specific strategies to address those needs.

This is going to make a huge difference.

I've been to many, many workshops that have been billed as, "Paul's going to show us how to use the (insert tech toy/software here)", with teachers attending only mildly interested.  In these cases I find I'm constantly having to create hypothetical contexts for the usage of the tools:  "For those students who might benefit from seeing the lesson again on their own time, use this...", or "If you have a student who is shy, you may want to try this..."
But with teachers arriving with "those" students already in mind, their focus should be laser-like, with pointed questions and specific lessons in mind.
Can't wait.

I love my job.

Ministry Licensed Software

Recently I have been exploring Clicker 5 and Photo Story, two Ministry Licensed pieces of software.

I am excited by each of these tools and have loved watching my grade 2 students learn to use both programs.

It is amazing to see how quickly the students can figure things out and how these tools can enable some children to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in ways that may otherwise be difficult.

I have targeted a few specific children with Clicker 5 and regularly make simple vocabulary grids to support them with writing tasks. For one of my students the ability to use Clicker 5 has allowed him to go from a dependent writer (asking how to spell each word and not being able to re-read his own work) to an increasingly independent, more motivated writer. By reducing the writing frustration and scaffolding the student through access to key words he can independently produce text that is coherent and legible. I have watched excitedly as both on-task writing behaviour and productivity have increased.

The next step for me is to learn how to use Clicker 5 beyond the creation of basic grids.

In the new year, I am hoping to learn how to create Digital Stories with this tool and will offer another job embedded PD sessions for a few teachers on Clicker 5.

Photo-Story is being explored by my grade 2 students thanks to the support of our wonderful teacher-librarian Rose Gordon-Rak. Mrs. Gordon-Rak and I have been working in collaboration to create meaningful tasks for the students as a way for them to demonstrate their learning in the content areas. The students have recently learned how to find and import pictures and use voice overs using Photo-Story with our Science Unit on Solids and Liquids. By the end of January each of the students will have completed their first Photo Story which they can share with others.

It is my hope that the students will be able to create their next digital Photo-Story project independently and will be able to choose to use this program for a future culminating task.

A special thanks Rose!!