Friday, November 13, 2009
Staff Development
The media center where my mentor is located is not necessarily where I do most of my field experience, but the media specialists there are the ones who answer all of my questions as they seem to be most in tune with my college education. I guess that is why I chose them!!! The staff at the school varies from those who have no idea about computers and even hate to email, to those who wish there were more options. This particular school is not on the forefront of technology, but they did just have LCD projectors installed in the ceiling of every classroom. The school doesn't have a SmartBoard yet, but they are on the list...that is the way the county does things I guess. As far as staff development is concerned, whenever there is an early release day, the media specialists are expected to present an in-service for teachers to get PLU's. The last time there was an early release day, one specialist taught podcasting and one taught movie maker. I think this is great, but things are slow to change. Teachers really don't have time to incorporate this new technology into their lesson plans. I think the best thing that comes out of the training is that teachers can assign and then understand what their students have put together because kids are all about the latest and greatest technology. It is VERY hard to keep ahead of our students technologically speaking, but we could go on forever about those who are digital natives and the advantage they have over those of us who are digital immigrants!
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My school is some what in the middle, we are not leading the way in technology usage but we are not the back of the pack. Just like your mentor school some of our teachers are very hesitant to use technology even the simplest forms of it. Unlike your mentor school our media specialist does not have many opportunities to do staff development sessions. We are fortunate to have a part time Instructional Technology Specialist who does small sessions after school on different technologies and how they can be used in the classroom. Her last sessions was on creating classroom web pages and using the Activotes in the classroom, both sessions where wonderful and well attended. I really like your last quote that are students (and personal children) are digital natives and we are immigrants, which is so very true!
ReplyDeleteMy school does have Smartboards in 14 classrooms, but most of the teachers are not fully aware of all of the ways that you can efficiently use them. We do not have technology staff development. I am hoping that next year, when I am put into the MS position that I can slowly start to provide some training, little by little, on the technology that we do have available in our school. Also, I feel like I need to get a couple of teachers interested and maybe that would get the others interested and maybe they would want to learn more.I feel that if one teacher sees another one using the technology in a good way and sees the students benefiting that he/she would want to use it in their classroom too.
ReplyDeleteGeralyn,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right that even when ms's are doing training it's hard to see changes in the classroom. It's hard for teachers to see how they would incorperate new technlogies unless they see it happening in a classroom.
I am so excited that I have teachers who will work with me! One in particular is a great friend of mine. She about to graduate with a degree in instructional technology and she is super excited about having kids use technology. Also, and luckily for me, she schedule this year is ridiculously crazy, so anytime I say I want to take her kids and do a project with them she is all for it. This Monday I am taking her 8th graders and teaching them iMovie. They are going to produce and edit a video biography about a GA author. The teacher will be learning at the same time as the students. What better way to learn? Once teachers see that other people are using these things successfully in their classroom, they will be more optimistic about using the new technologies.
At the elementary school in which I teach, the third through fifth grade classrooms received SmartBoards last school year. However, many of the teachers do not know how to use the SmartBoards and feel as if they do not have time to attend traninigs to learn how to use them. As a teacher I can understand the time issue. It does take time to integrate technology into lessons, however the benefits of using technology are wonderful! The students seem to pay attention better and are more engaged because technology is important to them.
ReplyDeleteOur media specialist does not have the opportunity to have teacher inservices to teach the teachers more about the technology resources located at our school. However, our technology department offers several "One Hour Wonders" each month for teachers to attend for PLU credit. These "One Hour Wonders" are very informative and are focused on helping the teachers and media spcialists learn more about the technology that is located at the schools in Habersham County. It is hard for teachers with families to attend these sessions because they are after school. So many of our teachers are unable to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
Geralyn -- My mentor is the media specialist also. She is awesome but she is ready to retire. She did not grow up in the age of technology. She is definitely a digital immigrant.If I were in her position now--I feel I would be ready to train so many teachers in the area of technology. Our teachers are afraid of anything to do with technology.
ReplyDeleteOur students are just like your digital natives. An example of this would be in one of our literature classes we were looking for a ballard and every site that we went to was blocked by the serve. The students starting giving us sites not block so we would listen to the music.
Are the students in our class engage? Yes--because we just an element of technology in every lesson. Do we run into problems? Yes, the wireless never works when we need it or the sites we need are blocked. We just plan for the worst scenario and there are no surprises.
Our inservice days are spend with one or two people going to training and then redelivering. Our school is on modified block so Thursday mornings are usually used for staff development.
I work in a Title I school and we had Christmas early this year; this summer, in each classroom, a Promethean Board was installed. We received one day of training and sent back to the classroom. It is difficult to complain, but we truly needed more than one day of training in order to fully utilize the capabilities of the software.
ReplyDeleteAfter an upgrade a few weeks ago, I began noticing new icons on my desktop. We now have Audacity, Story Book, and BrainPop. I stumbled upon the new additions by accident. Obviously, the county has spent the money to purchase new technology tools but no one was notified nor considered for training. Somewhere, there is miscommunication between our IT department and our media specialist.
This week I spent a day of field experience in a high school and utilized what little I knew about the new tools to assist a special education teacher. Her students are in a collab History class where the gen ed teacher lectures and the students take notes, daily. The special ed teacher was frustrated because her students were falling behind and needed more differentiating strategies. I showed her how to login to Brainpop and found a perfect mini-lesson on the standard being taught. She was delighted and excited; the frustration became hope again. Why are we not making the most of those teachable moments with teachers, as well as with students?
1. Teachers are not aware of the technologies available.
2. Teachers are not receiving training on the new technologies.
3. There is some miscommunication between our IT department and our media specialists.
4. Time and budget restrictions
Where do we go from here?
1. Get to know the needs of staff (needs assessment)
2. Schedule some time to meet with the IT department to discuss training opportunties
3. Become proficient with the new technologies available and how to best utilize them
4. Schedule in-service training during planning time. Keep it short and sweet, if needed use only one handout, and follow up with teachers to assess where they are after incorporating the new technology in the classroom
5. If needed, schedule another in-service for those teachers that still need some help.
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ReplyDeleteMy school is somewhere in the middle as well when it comes to being technologically savvy.. My principal really wants us to move toward being in the forefront of today's technology. She is pretty open to purchasing equipment when the budget allows. Right now we have 3 Promethean boards, 6 LCD projectors (one of each grade level), 2 camcorders, and 6 digital cameras (one for each grade level). Every year she tries to add something else to our technology repertoire. Our ILS reads up on the equipment that is purchased and she as well the technology committee train the staff on how to use them.
ReplyDeleteOur district has a technology department that provides training for schools. They have workshops after school and may have training on new system programs during staff meetings. Sometimes they just aren't available when you need them. This is why my school is working on having a technology committee that can provide mini workshops to help staff on site in a more timely manner.