Today marks my three years teaching in my district, and I remember that every PD(Professional Development) I attend seems to be a gathering for all the teachers, an actual socialization date. The PD has not started yet, but teachers, including me, are more excited to have lunch with my co-teachers and spend one-and-a-half hours chatting and catching up. There was never a discussion about the ongoing PD.
During the PD, instructional coaches will give us all these ideas and tell us that it will ease my work as a teacher. I am always the one that’s ready to listen and learn something new; I get so excited learning some ideas. I have some ah-ha moments and say, “ I can do that!”. After the PD returned to my classroom, I could use some PDs but did not do it consistently, or somehow I forgot the steps. Here I am, finding myself emailing my instructional coaches for inquiry questions. And most of the time, it will take them a while to answer my inquiries, and here I am left with uncertainty and dissatisfaction, so then I will forget about it and do it my way.
As I have started my master’s degree(Applied Digital Learning), I started an innovation plan to create successful computer science classes with the use of student engagement, such as blended learning, flipped classrooms, and project-based learning. I am designing my classes with such activities, and I know that I succeeded as my students are engaged and interested. My students could experience the COVA(choice, ownership, voice by authentic learning) methodology. Thus, I would like to share my strategies with my colleagues, hoping to help their classes and boost student engagement. I believe these student engagement activities(blended learning, flipped classroom, and project-based learning) can be used in other classes, not just my computer science courses. If blended learning is the future of education, then I believe it should also be the future of professional learning. “Professional Development is an essential piece of education; it allows educators to stay up to date with the latest curriculum and classroom practices.” Edwards(2017).
Using the five principles of effective PD (Gulamhussein, 2013), I can use it as a guide to creating an awesome PD that teachers will be excited to learn, attend and look for more.
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As a learner myself who attends Personal Developments, I would like to feel the excitement of the session that I will attend, it should be something that will catch my attention. To entice my fellow teachers, I decided to create a video with narration, to engage my viewer I started with a question and participation, and then followed by mentioning my actual experience in attending PDs.I wanted to make sure that I will have a slide presentation and narration as well. So that even if my viewer will not see the video, she/he will hear what was the message I am trying to convey. I visualized the materials that I am going to put on my video and created my script. By following Nancy Duartes’ video, I created a concise presentation to relay directly my message to my audience. I used Powerpoint slides, took common sense license photos from google, and then recorded my presentation using the record option of PowerPoint. There are also other options like canva and google slides for presentation but I opted for PowerPoint since it is simple to use but with powerful tools like recording and slide animations.
When my recorded video was done, I uploaded my file to youtube so that my captions will automatically show on the videos. With cc(closed captions) my viewer has the option to read what am I narrating in the video.
I am hoping that my call to action will have an impact on my co-teachers, and my administrators will be on board.
References:
Edwards, D. K. (2017). 5 characteristics of effective PD. 5 Characteristics of Effective PD. Retrieved February 5, 2023, from https://kristinedwardstech.blogspot.com/2017/04/5-characteristics-of-effective-pd.html
Duarte, Nancy. 2013. How to Create Better Visual Presentations. Stanford Graduate School of Business. https://youtu.be/so9EJoQJc-0
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
Harapnuik, D., Thibodeaux , T., & Cummings, C. (2018). Cova: Choice, Ownership and Voice through Authentic Learning (Vol. .9). Creative Commons.
TEDx Talks. (2013, November 6). Empowering the teacher technophobe: Kristin Daniels at TEDxBurnsvilleED [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puiNcIFJTCUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puiNcIFJTCU&feature=youtu.be
Annababette Diemecke's Digital Learning Journey 