Hey everyone,
In November, we are going to unveil our
PD BINGO. Unlike traditional BINGO, faculty will have the opportunity to do any 5 - they do not have to be in a row. The center square, instead of being a Free Space, will be a Choose Your Own Learning space. We have suggestions that range from blog posts, SEL webinars, or specialized online classes that teachers have to complete for recertification. At the same time, we are also rolling out some courses in Canvas that we are building in-house that deal specifically with EdTech tools that our faculty uses. Our BINGO boards will be published on our technology website, where we keep all the things. All of the linked information will be housed in a PD course in Canvas. In true BINGO form, every 5 squares will get you a prize and an entry into a grand prize raffle. If you finish all 25 squares, you get an extra entry into the grand prize raffle and a gift card to our school store.
The self-paced, choose your own adventure style PD is a direct result of feedback from teachers in all three of our divisions, and the associate directors of curriculum/instruction signed off on it with excitement. Sending good vibes that it goes well. We are rolling it out with candy LOL!
In addition, in October, we started our version of "potty PD," though we are using the high-traffic workrooms and mailrooms instead of restrooms. By hanging a fun QR sign in those popular areas, interested people can scan it to be taken to a
Google slide deck with themed resources. While it isn't PD per se, the intention is to share resources in and out of the classroom. October's theme is based on the National Day/Month of ideas for October so we have anything from cyberbullying to recipes to virtual field trips.
We are trying to keep it light and fun while still making some learning happen. Fingers crossed!
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Jennifer Hencken
Lake Highland Preparatory School
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-13-2021 03:27 PM
From: Stacey Roshan
Subject: Self-Paced PD
Thanks for getting this conversation started, @Jeremy Rahn, and for sharing the Thinglink you've created. I think there is a lot of power in providing self-paced PD modules for teachers. They can thoughtfully engage in the PD they need, when they need it, at a pace that's optimal for them. I had a lot of success with self-paced PD modules last school year. That was obviously due to a huge need. To keep that momentum going, I think the idea of self-paced growth and continuous learning needs to be embedded into the school culture (ie: recognized, time to pursue, etc).
Like @Bill Campbell has mentioned (and thank you, Bill, for sharing your new faculty page!), I like using Edpuzzle to share videos so that I can embed notes, learning checks, etc. It provides a 2-way communication channel within the video (I can leave space for viewers to ask a question, summarize their takeaways, etc). This gives me so much insight into follow-up work that needs to be done.
I also really like creating student-paced Pear Deck activities that teachers can interact with. Here is an example of one I created to onboard teachers with Kami: https://app.peardeck.com/student/tosmuuonn.
I'd love to hear what other schools are doing and how this idea is embedded into school-wide professional growth/development initiatives.
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Stacey Roshan
Director of Innovation & Educational Technology
Bullis School
@buddyxo
Tech with Heart
Original Message:
Sent: 09-10-2021 02:13 PM
From: Jeremy Rahn
Subject: Self-Paced PD
Hi All,
I have lost count of the number of times that I have organized a PD session only to end up with low sign-up numbers, last minute cancellations, and more than a few no-shows. Even when in a session, I often feel that I am trying to pack too much information into too little time. This is especially true when it comes to onboarding new faculty each fall.
In an effort to avoid the informational overload, and acknowledging that our teachers all have their own best ways of learning, we have been putting more effort into creating self-paced online resources, and just-in-time style training sessions throughout the year. In particular, we have started using Thinglink as a way of guiding faculty through complex systems in more manageable chunks. This link will take you to one of our examples (though the videos will likely not play for you as they are stored in our community Microsoft Stream).
I'm curious about others thoughts on this, and have a few specific areas that I would love to get more input/ideas on.
- How effective of a tool is this for most faculty?
- Are there better/more appropriate ones available?
- Are their any DEI opportunities that we might be missing here?
- Particularly thinking of the equity and easy of access angle
- Any thoughts on methods for accountability?
#TeachingandLearning
#DEI
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Jeremy Rahn
Technology Integrationist
Cranbrook Schools
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