Online Source: http://www.techlearning.com/article/7396
Our readings this week focus on quality professional development plans for educators and how teachers should be teaching and learning with technology. Teachers need support and collaboration with teachers to best adapt, use, and implement into their curriculum. If teachers aren’t directly involved in the subject area or outcome, the professional development offered won’t be worth much to them. Quality professional development plans (PDPs) should include focusing on content knowledge, integrating the school’s current goals, and collaborating measures amongst staff. (AERA, 2005) The collaboration is one that many teachers are not welcoming. Can you believe teachers, have to learn how to work together to create meaningful lessons? It follows the age old saying of “two heads are better than one”. Even President Obama’s proposals call for “collaborative professional development” (Islas, M.R. 2010, p. 14). Since we teach our students to be collaborative, we should welcome the same when we are learning to teach best practices.
Our readings this week focus on quality professional development plans for educators and how teachers should be teaching and learning with technology. Teachers need support and collaboration with teachers to best adapt, use, and implement into their curriculum. If teachers aren’t directly involved in the subject area or outcome, the professional development offered won’t be worth much to them. Quality professional development plans (PDPs) should include focusing on content knowledge, integrating the school’s current goals, and collaborating measures amongst staff. (AERA, 2005) The collaboration is one that many teachers are not welcoming. Can you believe teachers, have to learn how to work together to create meaningful lessons? It follows the age old saying of “two heads are better than one”. Even President Obama’s proposals call for “collaborative professional development” (Islas, M.R. 2010, p. 14). Since we teach our students to be collaborative, we should welcome the same when we are learning to teach best practices.
The article I am sharing showcases a district in Kansas who did exactly that. They collaborated by sharing, pooling together, and housing all of their resources so all can access them. How did they accomplish this? TECHNOLOGY, of course! The shared a network space to post files and resources, which was useful when grade level shifts to new buildings. These teachers also had staff development workshops they called “staff academies” with consultants who took current lessons and modeled how to adapt them with technology in mind. Now, the teachers can find, share, or create resources to go along with skills they were already teaching. (Goodvin S. & Kern, J. 2007)
Overall, the benefits of using technology behoove both teacher and student, since student achievement will improve. Teachers need professional development opportunities in order for tech to have a chance to change in the classroom. Plopping a new gizmo in the room is not enough, even for the tech savvy. Instead, give us workshops and time to explore how to use the gizmo and be more comfortable with it; It will be more beneficial to not only the teachers, but also the real benefactors being the students. Professional development is the only way.
References
American Educational Research Association (AERA). (2005). Teaching teachers: Professional development to improve student achievement. Research Points Essential Information for Education Policy, 3(1), 1-4. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED491587.pdf
Goodvin, S., & Kern, J. (June 2007). Teachers leaning on teachers. Educators’ Ezine. Retreived from http://www.techlearning.com/article/7396
Islas, M. R. (December, 2010). The federal policy landscape: A look at how legislation affects professional development. JSD. 31(6), 11-14. Retrieved from http://www.learningforward.org/news/getDocument.cfm?articleID=2166
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