My September Transform PD Session
"Finding Direction" focused on preparing for the journey ahead. As we are navigating our way through the school year, it is important to reflect on what is working well and what is not in order to make informed instructional decisions. It is my goal to help teachers during this process to find what works best for their classroom and content area.
For my October Transform Session, I wanted to give teachers an opportunity to dig deeper into the tools that they are using or would like to use with students this year, while modeling instructional strategies that they can use in the classroom. I started by creating a separate Google Slides presentation to use at each of my schools. After a brief introduction, I created a KWL slide template for each group of teachers to edit.
I asked one teacher in each group to add their topic as the title on the slide. Another teacher in each group was in charge of creating and posting a Popplet to show what the group already knew about the topic. A third teacher posted the questions. After exploring the topic by looking at available resources and discussing together. The group worked together to create one PicCollage, which was then posted under the "Learned" column of the slide. This was a great way to show how Google Slides can be used to allow for students to collaborate!
Teacher feedback from this session was great! One teacher commented, "Glad to have time to ask questions, play, and discover new things." All of the teachers really enjoyed working in groups and having an opportunity to choose their own topics for learning.
I was surprised at how many teachers struggled to select a topic. Some had trouble narrowing it down, and others commented, "I'm not sure about what I don't know." It was helpful to have a Drive folder full of resources for them to look through for inspiration and some suggestions about what they might want to learn. The sessions that happened later in the advantage of seeing what others were doing, which was helpful.
So far, I've really enjoyed using Google Classroom as a launching point for the sessions. It is great to have my presentation, links, and Google Form Survey all in one place for the teachers. I plan to continue to highlight different ways that Google Classroom can be used during each session. Because we have a lot of teachers interested in using Google Classroom with their students, this has also been a great way for those teachers to get a student perspective of how it works.
Looking for ideas for November Transform session. Thinking I might do something with SAMR model that allows teachers to look for ways to "bump up" activities they've used in the past...
Last October, each high school in Anderson One hosted a community event to showcase and celebrate the amazing ways our students and teachers were using technology in the classroom. At Powdersville High, each grade level decorated a table in the Commons and invited students to come and share recent projects or favorite apps with parents and other community members. There was also a "Digital Playground" where parents and students could play with and explore some of the apps, as well as participate in a Kahoot!
Though we were not able to get this large community event on the calendar again for this year, we used this idea for a PD session at Powdersville Elementary School! The faculty was invited to enjoy fall themed snacks in the Media Center, and each iTeacher invited a student or pair of students to share their favorite apps with the faculty. Each of the students had a table, and faculty members were able to move from table to table in order to learn from the students. It is always amazing to see what the students are able to do when you give them an opportunity to lead!
