Category Archives: Professional Development

Professional Development, Training, Faculty Development, Workshops

Learn, Teach, Lead

Wow! I love collaboration and learning from videoconferencing colleagues. I’ve been pondering Roxanne’s comments about learning, then teaching, then leading. She first mentioned this to me as we were working on setting up Google Docs for Jazzing Up Your Curriculum with VC this summer (affectionately termed Jazz). Now she’s taken the time to write up the theory more fully. Thanks Rox!

[There are] three phases: you as a learner, you as a teacher, and then as a leader. This is the philosphy that we have adopted in house and Ed and I conduct trainings within the region. At first we were skipping the “learner” phase and tried to get teachers to TEACH with the new technologies. We have revised that philosophy and now we conduct trainings to show teachers and tech leaders how to use the tools for their own learning. Then we will begin to work with them on how to use them with their students and eventually how to use them when they lead their own learning communities.

So today I’ve been in “Jazz” mode all day, preparing materials and meeting with the facilitators. I’ve been wondering, how are we using this idea in the Jazz training? (For more detail, you may want to review the Jazz workshop agenda.)

  • First, every morning the participants experience simulations of popular videoconference projects, including Read Around the Planet, Monster Exchange, Math Marvels, MysteryQuest, and the ASK process, complete with a Vietnam veteran interview. They experience these projects in the role of students, with each site playing the role of a classroom. They can see how the project could work with students. I think that fits into the “learner” phase first.
  • In the afternoon small group time, they design a project in teams comprised of participants from at least two locations. Here also, they use collaborative tools such as GoogleDocs and Skype to create a document describing their project. Early in the week, they have a chance to play with the tools, including camera presets, etc. on a videoconference system. This is the learner phase too I think.
  • At the end of the week, they present their project to everyone. During this time, the participants experience teaching over videoconferencing as they present and talk on camera.
  • I think these experiences prepare them to lead in creating their own projects and supporting their teachers (for coordinators who attend) in using VC. I know I’ve seen amazing increase in the use of VC by people who attend this workshop.

We are also using this idea in training new facilitators. In the facilitators meeting today we explored GoogleDocs and Skype, tools which will be used with the small group activities in the afternoon. We are also using GoogleDocs to share agendas, contact information for everyone, participant lists, and connection details. The facilitators are using the tools as a learner for themselves. In the workshop this summer, they will teach the tools. And we hope that Jazz will continue to grow and maybe next year, some of this year’s facilitators will be ready to lead their own team (3 to 4 sites).

So, what do YOU think? How do you use this pattern of learning, teaching and leading?

May 24 End of the Year Wrap Up

This afternoon I hosted four one hour VC sessions with my schools to wrap up the year, reflect on how it went, and talk about next year. About 20 of my 70 buildings attended. I’ve never done any type of wrap-up before, but several of my new RUS Grant buildings wanted to hear from each other.

We used a very simple format: 20 minutes of sharing what went well; 20 minutes of sharing challenges; and 20 minutes of sharing ideas for next year. Here are some of my notes:

What Went Well

  • Author interviews, ASK programs, Center for Puppetry Arts, Columbus Zoo, St. Louis Zoo, Read Around the Planet, MysteryQuest, etc.

Challenges

  • Scheduling and logistics within the school
  • Bandwidth and picture quality
  • Getting teachers interested in VC
  • Technical issues related to test calls, and what to do when problems happen

Ideas for Next Year

  • More provider showcases via vc
  • A workshop for teachers via vc on how to use the ISD website
  • More classroom to classroom projects
  • Mock job interviews for high school
  • Pen pals
  • News teams connecting to each other
  • More free things!
  • Directory of the other building coordinators in the county
  • Middle and high school science – something on the environment
  • Refresher sessions for staff meetings in the fall

We had a good conversation. They enjoyed hearing from each other and realizing that other districts have the same challenges as they do.  They picked up new ideas from each other as well. And my todo list is growing with new ideas of ways to provide support, training, and programming.

Other VC coordinators (Roxanne, Paul, and Andrea) have blogged about their end of the year celebrations. You’ll find them inspiring and more exciting than mine. 🙂 So check them out too. What have YOU done to celebrate the successes of this year?

Teacher Suggestions for PD

teacherIn my Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections online class, a discussion ensued on how to get teachers to look for and select programs. One of my local teachers, Shellie Jaques, from Watervliet North Elementary, shared these suggestions for staff training. (Shared here with permission.)

Tell your staff they should be looking for programs that are interactive not just informative. This heads-up from our assignment for class had me looking at the programs with new eyes as I searched.

I could suggest holding the inservice in the computer lab. Provide the addresses Janine did for our assignment this week and tell each teacher to search for VC programs in a subject area they would like to improve and write down their top 2 or 3 choices with the justifications for each choice. Give a time limit and discuss what each person found at that time. Once again like we did in class.

Or

Have grade level/subject area teams go to classroom computers so discussions won’t disrupt other teams, and once again ask for 2 or 3 top choices and justifications providing a time limit and discussion time.

Anytime my principal needs us to do an online survey for the state or other things like that we start the staff meeting in the lab and just do the work right then and there, then it’s done. It provides a good environment for helping peers if they have any questions too. We are also given time limits when we need to accomplish a group task for a staff inservice. It keeps our off topic discussion to a minimum because there is always at least one “Chatty Kathy” in every group. By the way we all like our principal and this format too.

The assignment was: Pick a unit that you teach and find at least two programs for that topic. These should be two programs new to you. You will find the BCISD and CILC searchable databases most useful for this assignment. Compare the two programs. Answer these questions:

  • What is different between the two programs?
  • Which would you choose of those two programs and why?
  • What criteria did you use to make your choice?

So, what strategies do you use for helping teachers learn what is available?

Being Patient with Teachers

Stress One of the challenges of coordinating videoconferencing is what to do when teachers cancel or change their minds on doing a videoconference. While it can be very frustrating for those who have put in time scheduling, doing test calls, and all the preparation necessary, I think we have to step back and look at it from the teacher’s perspective.

Cancellation Reasons
They may not always tell us why they are canceling, but almost always it’s a very good reason. Family issues, health issues, school scheduling issues that they didn’t know about before, curriculum pressures…. these are all reasons why teachers cancel. They sign up thinking that it will work out, but when it comes right down to it, they can’t make it happen.

Sometimes, with a little patience and encouragement in discussion with the teacher, you can resolve the issue satisfactorily to salvage the program. But other times it honestly has to be canceled.

Reacting to Cancellations
In our early days of videoconferencing, I sent some strongly worded letters to teachers about canceling programs. Guess what? They’ve never done a videoconference since. What was I thinking?!! We don’t do that anymore. We can’t take it personally! We have to consider their point of view and be gracious and understanding!

Of course we want teachers to realize that scheduling is challenging, but teachers are really stressed and under a lot of pressure. If we add to that stress, we are teaching them that videoconferencing isn’t worth the trouble. We have to cut them some slack and work with them to resolve whatever challenges arise so that they will continue to participate and use videoconferencing.

What About You?
So how do you handle cancellations? Any advice? What tips do you have to help teachers work through challenges with a videoconference?

Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections Starts April 23

Finish your year with a bang! Take our upcoming online class, Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections. It’s four weeks long, online via Moodle, a dynamic learning community, and we have international participants this time around! One videoconference assignment has you meet with another person in the class. This is the 10th session of this popular class.

Take this class to maximize your use of videoconferencing! We’d love to have you. More information and registration online here. Questions? Email me.

35 Staff Meeting VC Demos

Part of our RUS Grant requirements for each of the buildings with new videoconferencing carts this year has been to participate in a 30-90 minute staff meeting overview of videoconferencing. Today’s session was rescheduled three times due to snow days and fog delays, and we almost had a snow day today! Yes, that’s the view out my window this morning!

These professional development sessions were all conducted via videoconferencing, and most of them were during regularly scheduled staff meetings.

Overview of RUS Grant
We start with a quick overview of the USDA RUS DLT grant and how it came to their building, along with an explanation of the eligibility requirements of the grant. Some of the districts in our service area weren’t eligible, so I always explain why they were included.

Overview of VC Equipment
Next we talk about what they see in front of them. I always like to ask teachers questions that they can ask their students to make sure they understand this isn’t broadcast quality TV. “How can I see you?” “How can I hear you?” We talk about muting and etiquette. I compare the pixelation to the blocks you see on digital TV and joke about a local student who thought the presenter was morphing into a monster. Then we play a game with the remote. I ask for a volunteer and have them “pick on” another teacher and zoom in with a nice head shot. We set a preset and then that teacher gets to pick on someone else. I usually do 2-3 of these depending on how much time we have. Then we process how fast presets are and how long it takes to move the camera without them.

VC Projects
Next we cover the three main categories of VC use in our service area. I always start with projects since they are free! I put on my hat and talk about Read Around the Planet. I tell them about the MysteryQuest sessions available for their grade level(s). I usually show a video clip of MysteryQuest World for middle school. For elementary I show either Where in Michigan or my tape with clips from Read Around the Planet and Michigan Week. I talk about projects they can come up with on their own, usually using my worm farm story for elementary or the ESL story for middle school.

ASK Programs
I talk about our ASK programs and feature upcoming sessions with openings. I show them a picture book kit and explain the difference between connecting to an author and connecting to a specialist. I emphasize that these programs are free to them but not to me! REMC funds these programs because we believe they are powerful learning experiences.

Content Providers
Finally, we end with content providers. If time, I show them how to search and we talk about possibilities for each grade level represented. We cover local scheduling procedures and how our mini-grant program works. Finally we take time for questions and wrap up.

It’s a very quick overview, but it sets the teachers at ease with the idea of videoconferencing and helps them realize the potential for their curriculum. This year, buildings who did the demo earlier in the school year were more likely to have more teachers participate in videoconferencing throughout the year.

So, how do YOU introduce your teachers to videoconferencing? Share a comment!

Learning Virtually from TCEA

This week I’ve enjoyed reading a few snippets about the videoconference sessions at TCEA thanks to Roxanne Glaser. Some great ideas on 100 days of school, school cheers and Texas history from Angela Conrad’s presentation. And it’s always interesting to hear how one district, in this case Northwest ISD, is running their program including funding, uses of VC, and management of the programs. So if you didn’t get a chance to catch these posts, check them out!

Visiting Peace River Alberta

After lots of work scheduling and coordination, the first of seven connections with Canada happened today. It’s been my dream for a while to get class to class connections for our Michigan students who study Canada. In these 7 connections we’ll be visiting Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. The sessions with Peace River are the result of trading PD for projects, which is another model that seems to be working well for our kid to kid project videoconferences.

Today’s session started with Berrien Springs Middle School students listening to the Peace River students start their day with O Canada and announcements.

Next the Peace River students presented a PowerPoint with pictures of their town and school, some of their village history, a day in the life of a Hines Creek student, myths about Canada, and a presentation on each of the provinces.

Next the Berrien Springs Middle School students presented about the 6 regions of the United States and also about their local community.

Finally, the students asked each other questions. The questions started on topics and ideas that were presented by the two classes.  Towards the end, students asked questions about daily life, length of recess and bus rides, and favorite sports teams and more.

We look forward to more connections with Canadian students in the future.

The Future of Collaborations

After reading Andrea’s report on the NY & TX Mini-Jazz second session from this past weekend, I was inspired yet again with the power of collaboration.

Yes, collaborations are the third wave of videoconferencing. But to make those collaborations sustained, frequent, and high-quality, it takes training, planning, and nurturing. The best training is also done in collaboration, models the experiences we expect for students, and provides opportunities and support for teachers to create and implement their own project ideas.

This Jazz idea is brilliant (not my idea originally, so I can say that!). The way it is morphing to additional during-the-school year formats is wonderful to behold. I really do believe that if you want to have sustained collaborative projects with others, you need to begin a collaboration with another organization like yours, preferably out of state. I certainly am beginning to have plans simmering in my brain for additional trainings like this for 2007-2008.

What do you have in the works? How will you promote collaborative projects beyond just telling teachers about the possibilities??

NY & TX Mini-Jazz

Roxanne Glaser and I aren’t the only ones modifying the Jazzing Up Your Curriculum workshop format for a during-the-school-year format. Andrea Israeli and Ashton Graham are doing weekend sessions. Check out Andrea’s description of the first session so far. It’s cool to see this workshop format morph into smaller workshops with the same effect. Thanks for blogging about it Andrea!!