PLP Journey: Planning our Professional Learning Day

Our PLP (Powerful Learning Practice) project last year was to develop a meaningful professional development program for faculty and staff that enriches teaching and learning.

Our program is called IP21 (Individual Plan for 21st Century Teaching and Learning) is in its second year of successful implementation!

The five characteristics of our IP21 program are:

- Sustained
- Embedded within subject-specific needs
- Focused on the TPACK framework
- Aligned with the NETS-T and NETS-A
- Grounded in a collaborative, inquiry-based approach

Over 120 faculty from three divisions: Lower School, Middle School and Upper School selected a minimum of three professional goals for the current school year.

Faculty acquired the competencies through instructional technology support or by self-learning using the resources compiled in the NETS-T wiki. Everybody has documented evidence that demonstrate acquisition and application of competencies in teaching and learning.

This is the link to our 2009-2010 project: Parish Episcopal School PLP Action Research Project

PLP YEAR TWO

Our PLP team read a very articulate posting by M.E. Steele called 'Unconference: Revolutionary professional learning' that got us thinking about adapting the idea of an unconference to design our own Professional Learning day at school.

According to M.E., unconferences are part of the learning revolution. They’re participant-driven professional learning gatherings. The “un” refers specifically to the fact that there is no top-down organization, no registration fees, and no vendors. The unconference is organized and led by participants.

One of the best parts of an unconference like Edcamp is that it creates a level playing field for discussion. Since the attendees drive the conference and the attendees also serve as presenters there is no hierarchy between presenters and attendees. Teachers can present in front of administrators and administrators can engage teachers in dialogue with both parties taking an active role in the discussion.

Our faculty has been very active throughout the year implementing innovative teaching strategies and creating engaging projects that fit their IP21professional goals.These goals are not mandated by the administration but rather selected by each teacher. Giving ownership to teachers to design their professional growth makes these goals relevant and meaningful to our teaching practice.

Why not apply this fact to designing our Professional Learning day?

WHY PBL?

The focus of the PLP Year 2 teams has been on Project-Based Learning.
We decided to use a PBL approach to guide us through the process of design a Professional Learning day that encourages teachers to facilitate and participate in conversations discussing their ideas and passions as they relate to their IP21 professional goals.

DRIVING QUESTION 

 How can we engage our faculty and administrators in meaningful conversations about teaching and learning? 

Our IP21 Edcamp needs to include the following traits of optimal Professional Learning:
Relevant, Meaningful, Applicable, Adaptable, Differentiated, Enjoyable, Safe and  Diverse

MAP THE PROJECT

This is how we created our action plan:

Take a closer look at how our plan developed:

IP21 Edcamp Action Plan and Process Management

ASSESSMENT

Faculty will complete an online survey to reflect on their personal learning as a result of their participation in the IP21 Edcamp.  The survey invites the teachers to relate:

- What they learned 

- Impact of their learning on their teaching practices
It is our hope that all of our colleagues find value in their participating in the conversations throughout the day.
IP21 Edcamp Reflection

AGENDA

Creating our agenda was the final task in our process. Our IP21 Edcamp day will include a Keynote, four sessions with 24 conversations, a lunch with a Pecha Kucha round and a Closing Remarks session.

Take a look at the final program here: IP21 Edcamp Agenda

So there you have it: Professional Learning 2011 Style! 

Cross-Posted at Voices From the Learning Revolution (PLP Network)

Image Credits: Sunset on Boracay by wili_hybrid. Attribution-NonCommercial License

The World Café in a School Meeting

One of our school's principles is to: "Offer Definitive Preparation for College and Life".

Faculty and administrators are expected to provide a learning environment that allows students to:

Think Critically

Communicate cogently

Collaborate purposefully and

Create meaningfully

We refer to these skills as the four Cs.

Our Upper School faculty and administrators have been divided into four groups under each of the Cs. Each team is to develop and present a session at a faculty meeting.

I was assigned as the team leader of the ‘Creativity’ strand. The group was composed by 10 faculty members representing all subject areas and administration. We met three times prior to our presentation to brainstorm the protocol and expected outcomes of our session.

I learned about the World Café from Susie Demarest our Head of Upper Elementary and I presented it to the team as a creative way to facilitate conversations. This is how we implemented the Café Design Principles:

Set the Context
The objective of our meeting was to use the World Café process to enable conversations among faculty that related to projects and activities that demonstrate Creativity and Innovation in the classroom. 

Create a Hospitable Space

We created a Café ambiance by setting up the space with round tables. Each table was covered by a colorful plastic tablecloth and a simple but nice flower arrangement at the center.

Since we divided our faculty and administration into six interdisciplinary groups we printed place cards with their names for each table. We also designated a facilitator for each group.

Our Head of Upper School provided cake, iced tea, lemonade and coffee. As faculty arrived, they were invited to get their cake and beverage before entering the meeting room. They all smiled when they discovered that the impersonal room was transformed into a lively Café with samba music playing in the background!

 Explore Questions That Matter
Our team came up with two questions for our session:
1. What activity or project have you done in your class that has some of the attributes of creativity?

2. Is there a project that you want to implement in your class about which you would like to receive feedback from others?

Prior to the meeting we had sent an e-mail with the following information so that we all had a common ground when defining a ‘creative project’.

Attributes of a Creative Project or Activity

New or original

Stimulates curiosity

Challenging and engaging

Promotes divergence

Interdisciplinary

 

Key Terms of Creative Activities or Projects

Designing

Constructing

Planning

Producing

Inventing

Devising

Making

Encourage Everyone's Contribution
At each table a member of the team was designated as a facilitator. They were in charge of engaging everybody in the conversation. 

Connect Diverse Perspectives

Listen Together and Notice Patterns

We had a laptop available for each of the teams. We created separate pages for each team on a wiki and each facilitator entered the contributions from the members of their table.

An online timer was set up on the screen with a 20 minute countdown for each question.

Share Collective Discoveries

Because of the limited amount of time we were not able to create posters and do a Gallery Walk. However, we briefly showcased a couple of pages on the screen.  Faculty and administrators were excited to see how they could access the conversations by visiting the wiki at their own pace anytime.

Wrapping Things Up

By the end of the session we showed the video Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson.

Did it Work?

Our team felt that the session went really well!

We heard positive feedback from our colleagues and administrators about how everybody enjoyed the opportunity to share, listen and collaborate with each other.


CREATIVITY RESOURCES
This is our wiki page with the links to Creativity Resources for the classroom.

Images: Café Image Bank

IP21: Taking Ownership of Professional Development

How can a Standards-based Professional Development program using and implementing 21st Century skills have an impact on teaching and learning at our school?

Most schools require that their faculty create personal and/or professional goals for the school year. Our faculty and administration used the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) NETS-T and NETS-A as a basis to select their goals. We called these goals our IP21 (Individual Plan for 21st Century).

At the beginning of the school-year, during our staff development days we held sessions to review the IP21 PD model and to allow faculty to create their own pages on their respective Division Sites.

The IP21 faculty pages are used to document:

• Plan(s) for integration of content into standards
• Pedagogical strategies
• Request for instructional technology support as needed
• Evidence: description and link(s) to activity that demonstrate standard

I have set up notifications on each of the sites so that I get an e-mail when one of my colleagues posts something on their pages. This gives me an opportunity to give them suggestions and/or arrange for sessions as needed. Moreover, since all the IP21 sites are wikis, teachers and administrators can easily collaborate with each other not only within their own department but also across divisions.

Our faculty has been very receptive to this model. They like having ownership of their professional development.

Being able to decide what they want to do based on their own subject, grade level and technology proficiency makes all the difference!

IP21 logo: I created the logo with LogoSnap. The logo represents 'student and teacher', 'faculty and administration' and 'teaching and learning'.

Professional Development: IP21

Over the school year, a team of 5 faculty members (Michelle from UE: Emma and Sherie from MS; Dave and I from US) participated along with 200 educators in a professional cohort called Powerful Learning Practice (PLP). Through face-to-face meetings, virtual sessions and ongoing conversations we gained a deeper understanding of 21st century teaching and learning. As a team we developed a Professional Development program.

THE CONTEXT

Why are we so fervent in our desire to create and continuing to improve a rigorous, student-centered learning environment? Because we know that we must prepare our students for a future incalculably different to the past we have known.

Schools are slowly shifting from traditional teaching and learning models to dynamic models that take advantage of opportunities to energize our interaction with one another through technology. And it is already quite clear that technology will impact not only the amount but also the quality and character of that interaction. Students like to learn in the environment that is already so much a part of their lives outside of school.

The cognitive domain as illustrated by Bloom's Taxonomy has also been modified to the new behaviors and actions emerging as technology advances and becomes more ubiquitous.

Faculty and staff professional development needs to be designed taking into account these paradigms.

THE FRAMEWORKS

True technology integration can only happen in a context where subject-specific content is taught with pedagogical methodologies that include technologies that enable students to achieve their learning outcomes.

The TPACK model provides an essential context for our Professional Development plan: content and pedagogy drive the technology, not the other way around.

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching.

http://tpack.org

At the heart of the TPACK framework is the complex interplay of three primary forms of knowledge: Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK), and Technology (TK).

Content Knowledge (CK)

As faculty members we assume knowledge about our subject matter.

Pedagogical Knowledge

As faculty members we assume knowledge in pedagogies of student learning, classroom management, lesson plan development and implementation, and student evaluation. However, in the context of 21st century teaching and learning, there is a need for deeper pedagogical knowledge on a variety of instructional methodologies such as problem-based learning, inquiry instruction, critical thinking strategies, creativity, and differentiated instruction among others.

Technology Knowledge (TK)

It is essential for faculty to be knowledgeable in a variety of technological tools such as:

- Productivity tools (Office, Google Apps, etc.)

- Digital tools for communication, collaboration and creation (web 2.0)

Our Professional Development plan is standards-based. We selected the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) as our criteria for 21st Century Teaching and Learning.

The standards provide a common set of expectations for faculty, administration and students.

THE ACTION PLAN

The Professional Development Action Plan consists of 4 strands. At the core of this plan is the understanding that for Professional Development to be effective, it has to be meaningful and relevant to our own teaching.

PDA1. To achieve this relevance, each of us will create an Individual Plan for 21st Century Teaching and Learning. This will referred to as the IP21.

PDA2 and PDA3. There is a minimum requirement of six training sessions to acquire and/or refine the selected competencies. Three of the sessions will occur during Staff Development days.

PDA4. It is expected that all of us will demonstrate the acquisition of such competencies. The Instructional Technology team will be available throughout the school year for individual and group training sessions.

THE INDIVIDUAL PLANS IP21

Over the past two days we have presented our PD plan to over 150 faculty and administration.

In order to facilitate the creation of the individual plans, we showed each of the standards along with relevant examples of what each standard looks like at the different levels: Early Childhood (EC)/Upper Elementary (UE), Middle School (MS) and Upper School (US).

We created a wiki IP21 with all the links to the different examples. During the summer our faculty can explore the site in more detail. When we return to school in August they will be able to modify their plan as needed. The wiki also includes proposed training sessions correlated to the TPACK model and the NETS-T,

Each individual plan has been created as surveys using Google Forms for the different divisions and the administrators. The results will be analyzed and each faculty member will receive a customized plan with suggestions for training.

So far, the response has been very positive. Our faculty feels that this plan gives them ownership and control over their PD needs instead of being forced to attend "one-size fits all" sessions.

The PLP Experience

Just about a year ago I attended an ISAS Technology Directors conference at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth. The speaker was Will Richardson. I have to confess that I had never heard of him (in what planet did I live on, really?). His presentation was like lightning!

As soon as I got back home I googled PLP and filled the form requesting more information. I invited some colleagues to attend a virtual session with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, and at that moment we knew that we really wanted to join .

We formed a school team with Michelle from Upper Elementary, Emma and Sherie from Middle School, and Dave from Upper School. At our first face-to-face meeting we registered as members of a Ning and created our profiles. When we came back to school after the kick-off event, we were inspired to make the most of our PLP adventure.

Truth is, there was a little catch in our decision to join PLP. A year ago we had an accreditation visit, and the first item in the report concerning technology said, "The School should look into providing leadership for academic technology. This leadership can explore ways to develop and implement a school wide vision for academic technology, investigate professional development opportunities for both academic technology and all other classroom teachers." As a first step, I was appointed Academic Technology Coordinator to lead the school in addressing the accreditation report. Big task! I started gathering resources to create a LoTI survey that was completed by faculty in all divisions. After analyzing the data I knew I was going to need more guidance than just relying on my searching abilities!

PLP has opened my eyes to a world of possibilities.  All of a sudden I am supported not only by the top leaders in education, but also by a group of colleagues that are walking the same path and have the same expectations and concerns that I have.
My professional growth has been amazing to me. Through virtual sessions and ongoing conversations I now have a deeper understanding of  21st century teaching and learning. I have learned how to use several digital tools and, most importantly, I have expanded my learning network. On July 1st I joined Twitter, and as of this morning, I have over 300 followers. By the end of September I had created this blog, and in November all of my Honors Physics students had their own active blogs!

The professional development plan that I originally crafted back in November has been transformed into a well-defined program that already has had a tremendous impact in the school. All we had to do was to dig deeper into the myriad of resources received through PLP.
With creativity, passion and collegiality our team and technology instructors have been very successful in motivating and supporting our colleagues as they implement changes. After the culminating event this past Monday, we have renewed our commitment to move our school not only to address all of the accreditation report recommendations but much, much farther!

As I reflect on these past months, I'm reminded of Newton(*) when he wrote "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." I say this because one thing is clear: we wouldn't be where we are, without having joined PLP!

Here is our PLP Project Presentation:

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Online Publishing from YUDU

(*) Quote originally attributed to Bernard de Chartres

Faculty Learning: Scoring a Basket!

What are the barriers that impede teachers growth as learners?

The most common answer is usually a lack of time, unfortunately in some cases I believe that there is also a lack of motivation.

On Monday, we had a Staff Development day and the administration required faculty to attend at least one technology session.

I was thrilled with the opportunity but I realized that some of my colleagues would not have attended otherwise; that left me with several things to consider about professional development.

Among other things I wondered:
1. How do we make the sessions meaningful?
2. What is the best way to present a new digital tool?
3. How do we engage and keep faculty motivated to integrate the tool?

Here is my take at possible answers to the questions:
1. In order to make a session meaningful to teachers it has to be a hands-on session. Teachers should have the opportunity to create during the session. The topic has to be relevant to their subject area and applicable to a lesson.
2. One good way to present a digital tool is to show an application of that tool. I've seen lots of great presentations at SlideShare that show a particular tool with bullet points about possible applications but rarely linked to an actual example. If I am able to show how I integrated a tool into my own curriculum and demonstrate it's usefulness for student learning I am sure that it would be easier to convince teachers to give it a try.

3. Once a teacher is engaged it is very important to follow-up their progress. Sometimes a teacher is willing to try a new tool but when they are alone in their classroom and stumble upon some difficulties they might be tempted to drop it. If the mountain doesn't come to you, you have to go to the mountain!

I like to document ideas that people have shared with me about a particular project and then after a few days  e-mail them or stop by their classroom to ask them about their idea. With this method I've been successful in reigniting the fire.

How did our Staff Development day go?
I think it went really well! We had 8 presenters for a total of 11 sessions. The requirement was to attend one session but 50 out of the 108 teachers attended two and some of them three sessions! All of the sessions were hands-on and the faculty had an opportunity to select which session to attend.
For the past two days we've had requests for installing Google Earth, help with advanced features in Google Sites, troubleshooting Prezis and the best of all: two of our administrators have started their own blogs!

So what is the secret to score a basket with faculty and their own learning?
I don't believe that there is a definitive answer to this question but I will certainly keep trying different strategies!

Presentation for Inservice

Today and tomorrow I will be presenting to faculty during inservice days.

For the Upper Elementary teachers I will introduce the Myths and Legends Creator, hopefully some of them would be excited about trying it.

In the afternoon I have a session for Middle School teachers about Possibilities for 21st Century Teaching and Learning. The session's goal will be to introduce the three major 21st Century frameworks. I will start with Alan November's talk on Myths and Opportunities, followed by a Prezi and the introduction of the NETS-based professional development model.
Tomorrow I will present two sessions for Upper School faculty.

Here is the Prezi for the session, it was a lot of fun to create!

Professional Development NETS based

Just finished the PD program that will be presented to faculty during inservice. I designed it using the NETS for teachers as a framework. Includes digital tools but also sessions on teaching and learning like: authentic instruction, assessments for learning, Bloom's taxonomy and digital citizenship.

Pretty ambitious? yes, doable? sure but only with full administrative support and faculty buy-in!

This is the Academic Technology website that I created.

This is the page for the Professional Development model.

Professional Development

Had a great exchange of e-mails about ideas for incentives for faculty professional development.
Last bit of good news, big prizes is a go!
I need to come up with a PD model a.s.a.p since I had great buy in at the FLC meeting. Was quite surprised by having it as a mandate for departmental lunches.