Professional Development - Easier to SAY it than to DO it

"Everybody" in education talks about professional development, about growing (developing?) a Personal Learning Network (PLN,) and really (finally) using that technology we have in the classroom to it's full benefit.

Sounds great! Let's DO it. What?? Difficulty getting started? Not so easy, is it?

We ask our students to do things every day that extend their ability, and some at which they may fail, in order to learn something. It's a pity that we won't ask the same of ourselves.

Begin by taking a good, hard look at where you are - it's like taking a candid snapshot. Assess yourself on as many "tasks" as you can think of. Don't pull any punches. This is for YOU, and no one else. Address things like quality of lesson plans, time spent planning, time spent with parent contact/communication, interaction with team or colleagues, how smoothly your classes run, your back up plans when things go wrong, etc. Make your own list of those things that you think affect you as a teacher/leader/facilitator in your classroom. Bottom line: you can't tell where you need to go until you know where you are. NOW you have a starting point.

Next, go "out" into the world (probably search internet, social networking & bookmarking sites, twitter, conferences, podcasts, etc.) and look for examples you'd like to emulate. Don't be afraid to start locally - there's probably several teachers in YOUR SCHOOL that have experiences (good and bad) from which you could draw. Think BIG here - imagine yourself as that "perfect" facilitator, presenting that fantastic lesson, able to keep track of students for differentiated instruction, teaching to their strengths, engaging them for the entire time you have them - even leaving them wanting more at the end of the class! NOW you have a vision.

After you've looked around for examples, "subscribe", "follow" or "watch" several episodes or posts or tweets from many of the ones you found and think you MIGHT get something from. It won't take you long to figure out the ones that are worth your time. Bookmark sites that interest you, sites that may be within your reach, and also sites that will push your "envelope" a little. Even if you get one or two great links or ideas from each of them every few episodes, it's probably worth your time. But at the same time, don't be afraid/ashamed to "unsubscribe" or "unfollow" someone that isn't feeding your needs - your time is valuable, and you need to be selfish about it! Contribute something that you use that might "feed" others, too. If it's useful or interesting to you, there's probably a dozen others that would feel the same way. NOW you have (at least a start to) an action plan.

I've done this, in a less structured and formal manner, over the last six months or so. I've followed several blogs and podcasts for years, but when they were no longer worth my time, I quit them. Only recently have I gotten a Twitter account, and find that this has been the best resource for ideas and links with the least amount of time and effort that I've ever seen. Maybe I just follow the right people, (favorites are @loonyhiker, @coolcatteacher, @skipz, @tombarrett, @teachakidd, just to name a few....) Their posts are NOT the trivial "I'm doing my hair now" - type posts - they post things that they find valuable from their experience in and out of classrooms, some of them professionals in classrooms already for decades. Us newbies (I've only been teaching a decade and a half...) can pick out things from their wisdom and apply it in our classrooms. (BRAVO AND THANKS TO EACH OF THEM.)

OK - now go out and make your plan! Hope it works for you.

Leaving your mark

It's interesting that sometimes one will see the same theme in statements from totally different places. That's what happened to me recently.

First, I received a note from my father mentioning this quote. "Every man is either making a mark or leaving a scar. We need to make sure we leave the mark God desires." (Freddie Scott) I found this very insightful and moving, repeated it to a few people and Twittered it to my "network." Didn't think much about it again for a week or so.

Then, I noticed this theme again in, of all places, an introduction to the Oct/Nov 2009 edition of "Handy" magazine, published by Handyman Club or America. In it, Larry Okrend, Executive Director of HCA says (page 6) "In a world where so much is soullessly churned out in factories, it might be good practice for all of us to sign our work in some fashion. If you derive a sense of accomplishment from your projects, leave a maker's mark as a small reminder of your creativity, productivity, and dedication to a job well done."

Even though neither of these quotes were intended as guides to us as educators, they can be directly applied. Replace "man" with "teacher" in the first quote, and re-read it. It emphasizes the awesome responsibility we have to shape young minds in a positive manner, or risk damaging them if we do it wrong. I don't know about you, but to me that's a very sobering thought, one that none of us should take lightly.

Then, think of being proud enough of your work in the classroom to "sign" it. Is it just "...good enough for Government work..." or a real work or art? Are you bringing energy into the classroom, or simply going through the motions to get through the day/week/quarter/career? Are your students better for having been in your class today/this week/year?

We should make this an "objective" in every lesson plan taught in every classroom every day. What type of mark will you leave in YOUR classroom this week?

Google Forms & an iPod Touch

As a Technology Integrator for our Middle School, I've been "playing" (isn't that what us GEEKS do?) with an iPod Touch and Google Docs to see how they can support each other. Most of all, I'm trying to see how the "forms" part of the spreadsheet can help in a classroom.

Here's what I've come up with so far - First tried forms with a simple survey to the teachers about what type of computer they want when the capital outlay process rolls out next year - desktop or laptop, and any special considerations for that machine. Initial experience very promising, but not perfect. Biggest mistake was that, not wanting to send it from my gmail account, I mailed the form to myself and then distributed from there on my school account. The form was in the forwarded email, so after staff filled out the form, but when they "submitted," it took them to the "real" form on the web, so they had to do it all again. Next time, I'll simply include the link and save them some time and effort. Glad it was a simple form.

Next experiment is with classroom observation and the iPod Touch. Created a form for observing student posture in 6th keyboarding class, and sent it to myself on my gmail account, which comes up on my "Touch." What I wanted was to walk around the room, enter info into the form and have it automatically fill out the spreadsheet with my observations. Then, enter grades at the end of the class, print for documentation, and be done with it.

The first form had "drop down" choices which, in theory, are good, but don't play well with a "Touch" because it will automatically submit the form before you are ready. So I went back and changed to check boxes with one required box that simply says "done." That gave me control of when it actually was submitted. That worked well, except that I had to keep going back to the email, click the link, and go to the form each time. Haven't tried embedding in a webpage yet - that's still to come. That may make it easier.

Note to Google Docs folks - Don't bury the published form so far into the document - make the finished form come up as maybe a subset of the document itself so it will show up on mobile sync applications for easy access. Or, maybe an application specifically for forms that support a Google Doc. This would really help.

If you have any suggestions for me, please chime in. I'd love to hear them. Thanks.

Ya' know, back in St. Olaf...

You will probably recognize this line from the sitcom "Golden Girls" that's been airing in constant reruns since whenever!  After saying this line, Rose Nyland would venture off into some story from the town where she grew up. That town is, of course, St. Olaf.

I think I can finally identify with Rose.  I'm afraid I drive through St. Olaf (by another name, of course) every day when I go to work.  Probably not an atypical little rural town, but no one could accuse them of being in the top ten areas for MENSA members per capita!  

Same route every day (boring, isn't it?) so I notice things that change, and things that don't change.

Before I go any further with this, I'll say that this is year #2 for a similar observation; so I know it's not just an oversight.  Here's the setup.  Fairly nice house and yard, a few derelict items scattered about, but not too bad.  At one corner of the house is a nice looking, fairly new (by all appearances) yard tractor.  But I'm not sure the owner really understands the concept.  I've never seen the tractor moved since I noticed it, and there is grass growing around and under it that's longer than the surrounding lawn.  Apparantly, the owner of the property uses a regular mower to keep the yard.

If you don't see irony here, leave a comment and I'll ignore you.

(not really...)

Hope you enjoy this.