I think planning in-service days for teachers is the hardest thing I have ever done. We planned and re-planned and planned some more. The goal was to make sure that every teacher walked away with something to use this year and were engaged in the process. So when we started planning, the first thing I knew I wanted to ensure was that whatever we chose it would be interactive. We can't preach student-centered learning and then do sit-and-get all day. Here is a look at what we did, the reactions we got, and what I would like to change. Session #1: Revamping the WorksheetOne of my focuses this year is going to help teachers move away from the worksheet mentality and into more student-centered and interactive class-time. The only way I thought I could make an impact, was for them to do the work in the same way their students are asked to work. So we did just that, the teachers were given a worksheet and asked to complete it. I tried not to give the groups a worksheet that would be easy for them to complete, after all, their students aren't experts either. After about 5-7 minutes, we had them reflect on the activity using padlet. Here are the questions they were asked to think about. 1. Was the worksheet interesting and were your personally invested? Shocking....almost all the answers were NO. 2. Like the students, you were not overly familiar with the content, so how did you find the answers? *gasp* We had teachers who admitted they copied! Many also used Google. 3. Do you believe that you actually LEARNED the material completed in the worksheet? Again, the majority said that they probably didn't learn the material, as they wouldn't remember it at a later date. 4. Did you use any of the 4 C's? Here answers varied. Some said they did collaborate with their group members in order to come up with the answers. 5. Did you get feedback on whether your answers were right or wrong? How long does it normally take you to give feedback on a worksheet? No, they were not given feedback. Answers varied from group to group. The majority would say feedback isn't given til at least the next day, sometimes in class feedback is given as teacher moves around the room. Here are the results of the reflections: Most teachers could admit that worksheets were boring. They did not take much critical thinking or creativity. They weren't given feedback immediately and that can be a frustration for many students. They were easily Googled. While intentions of the worksheet are good, the goal of that worksheet weren't being truly met, and so learning isn't really happening. Now we let them fix it! They got in their groups and developed ways to convert those same worksheets and fix the problems that we discussed. They then placed that on a padlet. Here is the link to the padlet where the new ideas were shared. So what was the consensus? Overall that session was rated an 8.27/10. Here were some comments: What would I do different? Overall, I think it was extremely effective. Teachers were able to really feel like what it's like to be a student, I think sometimes we forget. - Perhaps this could have been done in a shorter amount of time because it felt redundant in some situations. - Some also asked to do a worksheet in their own subject area. Perhaps instead of revamping the worksheet they did, they could have revamped a worksheet of their own. Session #2: Speed GeekingI knew from Day 1 I found out we were planning the first day teachers came back, that I wanted to do Speed Geeking. I wasn't sure who I wanted to present or even over what topics, but I knew that teachers would love the idea of speed dating with technology. At the end of the year last year, our principal asked teachers what they wanted to see for professional development, and may of them said they wanted to hear what other teachers in the building were doing with technology. That is who we had present in our Speed Geeking session. These teachers presented on a wide-range of topics: OneNote, BreakoutEDU using OneNote, Adobe Spark, Edpuzzle, ClassFlow, Microsoft Teams, Twitter, Microsoft Forms, OneDrive, Flipgrid, and Kahoot/Quizziz. We set up in the cafeteria and the groups rotated through each presentation. The tie in was that these presentations were supposed to HOOK the other teachers. In session #3, they would be able to pick 2 of their favorite presentations to learn more about. So what was the consensus? Overall the session was rated 8.75/10. Here were some comments: What would I do different? The plan went really well, but always room for improvement! - Definitely would do a better job of letting everyone know what was happening so they could bring something to take notes with or I would have a sheet available for them. - Also pair up presenters so they wouldn't get so tired! Session #3: Teacher Choice with TechnologyAfter lunch, teachers were then allowed to choose what 2 sessions they most enjoyed. Then they would spend an hour in each session, learning how to use the technology and hopefully coming away with some ideas or products for the classroom. So what was the consensus? Overall this session was rated 9/10. Here were some comments: What would I do different? This one is hard, because it went so well teachers wanted more! We had given them 2 choices, because we didn't want to give them too much, and then have them overwhelmed and not implement any. But it seems teachers want more! - Offer a time at the end (like a breakout session) for those teachers to follow up with questions they may have had. - Possibly give 3 sessions instead of 2. - Other problem, we wanted the teachers who presented to also attend sessions. So sessions were only offered once out of the 2 hours. That meant some sessions people wanted to attend were at the same time. Next year, I want to find 2 presenters on each subject matter and they each do 1 session and teachers will then have more options. I am really pleased how the day went. It is comments like these that help reiterate the importance of interactive experiences for all. We must teach our teachers with the same methods we preach to our teachers.
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April 2018
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