I believe that the most important professional development
strategy is one that is hands-on and provides the teacher with ample
opportunities to implement what they are learning. Mentoring from those who have successfully
implemented the new strategies or technologies themselves is a vital resource
for a novice teacher. I believe it is much
easier to learn from someone one on one, then from another source such as a webinar. The support you receive from colleagues or
other professionals will give you the confidence and ease to use these
strategies in your own classroom.
Professional development learning should also be ongoing; you can’t just
bring it up once or twice a year. It
needs to be a priority of all those involved if it is to be successful. The ongoing support from colleagues and administration
will create an environment where professional development will thrive.
What is the PD
strategy or strategies that you plan to use in your Technology Initiative?
For my Technology Initiative, I talked with the teachers I
work with to find out their thoughts on the technology they have available to
them, and what technology they would like to have in their classrooms. The overwhelming response was that they would
like to have a classroom set of IPads for each teacher. All of the teachers have an IPad that they
use in the classroom, and they have found many useful apps to engage the
students, but their biggest complaint is that one is not enough. Even though they can project the apps onto
the whiteboard so that the students can interact with them, it is very time
consuming when you have 20+ students to give them all a chance. It also leaves the rest of the students just
sitting there watching instead of engaging in the program themselves. The teachers believe that with a classroom
set of IPads they could do so much with them.
My PD strategy involves mentoring and coaching. There are some teachers who have a lot of
experience integrating the IPad into the classroom and some who have never
tried it. I believe that together the
teachers could collaborate and help each other to get the most out of the
technology. A more experienced teacher
can coach another on how to use the technology, troubleshooting, and what apps
and programs are the most beneficial to students.
Please also share any
literature of resources you are using to refine your focus and develop your
plan.
Here are a couple of the resources I have been looking
at. I have been looking at the benefits
of IPads in the classroom and apps that are the most beneficial.
No comments:
Post a Comment