Monday, May 16, 2011

Week 11: Chapter 5

What is a lifelong learner?  You would think that one who plans on dedicating their life to educating others (at any level) would be eager to learn more themselves.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  Professional Development is a struggle for many districts, administrators, and educators for many reasons.  Time, money, and resources are a few of those reasons.  So, how does one overcome these obstacles so that those in charge of learning, can learn themselves?

According to Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools districts/administrators, those in charge of creating PLC's and Professional Development for teachers and staff should follow some guidelines to create quality, useful professional development opportunities.

1.  Create Effective Programs (p. 102)
  • Participant's reactions:  Evaluate the programs offered.
  • Participant's learning:  What are the participant's beliefs toward teh topic?
  • Organizational Support:  Do they have the tools, services, and policies to support the training.
  • Participant's use of new knowledge:  Did participants implement what was presented? 
  • Student Learning:  Did Professional development improveme student learning?
2.  How do districts encourage participation? (p. 105-106)
  • Create a trusting environment:  involve all memebers
  • Eliminate confustion:  Make clear the purpose of the PLC, what will be gained by participation?
  • Create dialogue:  Provide a venue for communication, short bios, questions, discussion boards, and chat.  Create a place to share resources.
  • Have teachers share:  Allow for brainstorming.  Show-and-tell sessions.
  • Give contructive feedback:  provide venue for feedback and reaction within the community.
Lets face it...the professional development used to be classroom management, record-keeping and discipline.  Don't get me wrong, these things still exist, and they are important, and there can be time for that in PLC's.  But, the times ARE changing.  The technology is what is scaring many of our educators.  There is strength in numbers...if we want our students to work together, why can't we work together to overcome our "fear of technology"?
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1 comment:

  1. PassionateteachMay 17, 2011 at 7:10 PM

    I agree with you on the point, "why can't we work together to overcome our "fear of technology"?? I think part of the problem with professional development and technology is teachers do not take advantage of the professional development opportunities because they can't see the direct benefit to themselves as teachers. They think they are doing fine with how they have taught so far, they have done fine on reviews, etc. Until the teachers can see that there is a direct benefit to bringing technology into their classroom, they will not become excited about any professional development surrounding technology. Another issue I have seen, which seems to be a major concern nationally with teachers, is that they want to be part of the process, and yet they feel as though they are not being heard. They want to be a part of the decision making process. This does not seem to happen as often as it should. If the participants felt heard, they may feel vested in the process and then buy into the professional development more. Most teachers think that it is just another phase, and sadly, technology to them, may be just that, another phase. We know it is not, but they don't.

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