Connecting & Communicating Your Ideas EDLD 5389

It's time to celebrate!

Creating this PL has been laborious and overwhelming, yet fulfilling. When I decided on my innovation plan, I never thought to teach other educators how to build ePortfolios. In my first year of teaching, I noticed that my students had short-term memory. Every time I introduced a new concept to them, they would start protesting about how they couldn't do it and it was too hard, conveniently forgetting that they had just successfully completed a unit they said they swore they couldn't learn just the week before. The ePortfolios are intended to be a tool for my students to use to track their progress, network and share with their peers and foster student-centered learning. So when I was charged with creating a PL course for educators, I didn't quite know where to start. The teachers in my district are already required to create teacher websites using Google Sites, a residual of the COVID era, so I wasn't positive that I'd receive favorable responses when proposing that they create another online resource. So I had to really consider the purpose and use of the teacher eP when developing this PL.

Unlike their limited Google sites, their teacher ePs would allow them to share, network, and collaborate with their students and their families. Google Sites are limited to just the users in our district network, but the eP makes way for more significant community connections and networking. It's all about ownership, and since the creator of the eP owns the website, it can develop and grow into whatever the educator needs it to be, whether it's advancement in K-12 education or beyond.

To begin my PL development, I had to consider what made a PL effective and applicable. The Five Principles of Professional Development was stop number one. Duration, Support, Engagement, Modeling, and Specificity are they are pillars of an effective PL. Most teachers consider the modern workshop model PD an information dump with no long-term support, no follow-up, and no consideration for who is in the room. In planning my PL,

I was certain to develop a course that would address every aforementioned item.

The Five Principles of Professional Development

Detailed Course Outline | Phase I

Detailed Course Outline | Phase II

Printable PL Outline

Course Presentation

Presentation PDF Version

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GPISD Technology Helpdesk

Questions that Need Answers | Connecting Ideas

Audience and their needs

Although this PL was designed for the middle school teachers are Cunningham Middle School, it is easily transferable to any campus.

How will you foster collaboration and effective modeling?

Learners will be divided into learning communities based on their content area. I will use my own eP as the first example, and learners can sit in with my students as they work on their ePs. This way, they can see the benefits and how much the students enjoy the process. They will also be able to witness how I teach the use and creation of the student eP.

How will you foster self-directed learning?

Learners will receive tons of online materials and aids to help guide their personal learning journeys. The course is designed to be student-led. Learners will attend the sessions for information presentation, hands-on learning, and scheduled team time.

Who will lead what sections?

I will serve as a coach or mentor for learners during the seven-week session. The goal is for the learners to lean more on their learning communities and use the materials and resources provided.

Resources

Burns, M. (2014). Five models of teacher-centered professional development. Globalpartnership.org. https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/five-models-teacher-centered-professional-development

Gulamhussein, A. (2013, September). Teaching the teachers effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. https://www.dropbox.com/s/j13c5mk092kmqv9/Teaching_Effective_Professional_Developmt.pdf?dl=0

Sterling, S. (2018, May 21). 5 principles of professional development for teachers. Blog.edmentum.com. https://blog.edmentum.com/5-principles-professional-development-teachers

Tate, M. L. (2015). Worksheets Don′t Grow Dendrites (3rd ed.). Corwin Press. (Original work published 2023)

Zdonek, P. (2016, January 15). Why don’t we differentiate professional development? Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-dont-we-differentiate-pd-pauline-zdonek