Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts

Monday, October 22, 2018

Instructional Technology Teacher Professional Development without Substitute Teachers

Like many schools across the country, our district often has a shortage of substitute teachers. Sometimes there aren't enough reserve teachers available to cover teacher absences due to illness, let alone cover trainings that take place during the school day. In the past we would offer teachers instructional technology trainings and staff development during the school day. Starting last year began eliminating this practice to reduce the overall need for reserve teachers and this year plan to use zero reserve teachers. 

As I've written about in the past, one of the reasons I believe our 1:1 program has been successful is because of our ongoing, sustained professional development. We are now in the eighth year of 1:1 and still providing all of our teachers with about nine hours annually of professional development related to technology. Whether teachers are in their first or eighth year teaching students with 1:1 devices, they attend multiple training sessions per year. The reason we provide continual staff development for our teachers is to help them use technology in ever new and innovative ways to deepen learning for students and make it more meaningful (see Beyond SAMR Ladders and Pools: A Framework for Teaching & Learning).

To make this happen without reserves, our instructional technology coaches are providing this staff development before and after school as well as online. Sometimes principals replace one or more monthly staff meetings with staff development sessions. This was the case last week at both our Middle School East and High School. At each site, teachers had the option to choose from a menu of options, including instructional technology sessions. Pictured are two high school mini-sessions last week, one on formative assessment with Pear Deck held in the newly remodeled Loft space and the other on Strategies for Improving Feedback in the Online/Blended Environment for teachers in our Tonka Online program. Last spring I wrote about 14 different technology mini-sessions from which high school teachers could choose in place of a staff meeting. Staff at all our sites are asked to attend about two hours of face to face meetings before/after the school day related to instructional technology staff development. 

In addition to face to face sessions this year we are expanding our online instructional technology staff development so all teachers will take two hours of training per semester equaling four hours of training this year. This past summer we increased our online technology related offerings for teachers to 18 sessions and had over 20% of our staff take at least one session using our learning management system, Schoology. Some of these same sessions will be offered once again and our instructional technology coaches are busy creating further sessions for teachers. 

We also offered extensive technology related face to face trainings in August. We have been providing these August trainings since 2005 and the options certainly have increased since that time. Teachers are asked to take at least two summer classes so they end up with about three hours of training in the summer. In the end all these training options add up to the same number of instructional technology training hours we have asked teachers to complete since our 1:1 iPad program began:
3 hours: August training classes online/face-to-face
2 hours: Face-to-face instead of staff meetings or before/after school
4 hours: Online training modules
9 hours: Total 
In addition to these nine hours of instructional technology staff development, teachers can and often do meet with their instructional technology coach or media specialist for additional help and/or to work further on a project. All of these options and work have made it possible to continue to support our teachers and advance their work with students helping to improve the ways that technology enhances learning and teaching. 

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                        Monday, August 13, 2018

                        90 Years Ago New Teachers Made $1,400: My Grandmother's First Teaching Contract

                        About 90 new teachers are beginning soon in Minnetonka. Over the next two weeks we'll spend time getting to know them and help them learn the ins and outs of teaching in our district. This year we are offering most of our technology training for them online through Schoology. They actually started this last week. Next week they will all be in our district in person in meetings, luncheons, a bus tour of the district and further trainings.

                        It seems like a long time ago I was one of these new teachers in Minnetonka--24 years ago to be exact. Even longer ago than that, almost 90 years ago, my grandmother, Dorothea, was an English teacher. She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, the same school from which I graduated 65 years later with my own degree in education. Unfortunately I never got to meet my grandmother because she passed away from cancer before I was born. 
                        Dorothea got her first teaching job in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, a small town on the far western end of the state near the Montana border where my mother grew up (pictured on the right). She taught in a three level schoolhouse (pictured above) that had around 10-20 students per grade. Elementary students mainly had classes on the first floor and moved up to high school by attending classes upstairs. The basement housed a cafeteria, science labs and a shop class. The school is no longer standing. Its last class graduated years ago and the building has since been torn down. The few students who still live in the area are now bused to another town nearby for their education. 

                        My mom recently showed me my grandmother's first contract. Back in 1931 my grandmother signed the contract pictured below to begin her teaching career. As an English teacher in a very small school, she had numerous preps. My mother had her own mom as her teacher many times over the years. Dorothea taught writing classes, speech classes, journalism, Latin, music and more. According to the contract, she earned an annual salary of $1,400 for this work, minus an annual retirement fund withdrawal of $14(!). This worked out to $154/month for a nine month contract. It's hard to imagine a time when that would be enough money for an annual salary. I'm sure if my grandmother were alive today she'd be amazed to see how far education has come in the past century, not only in salaries but in many other ways, too, such as all the technology now available.

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                        Monday, January 8, 2018

                        More Tips for Successful 1:1 Programs: Ongoing Teacher Sharing, Dialog, Reflection & Colleague Observations

                        One of the reasons I believe our 1:1 program has been successful is because of our ongoing, sustained professional development, which I've written about in the past. We are now in the seventh year of 1:1, and still providing all of our teachers with about 9 hours annually of professional development related to technology. Whether teachers are in their first or seventh year teaching students with 1:1 devices, they attend multiple training sessions per year. 

                         Learning to use the device itself is simple, as is learning how to use it in education to move from traditional paper and pencil environments to a digital document cycle. That part doesn't require ongoing training. The reason we do provide continual staff development for our teachers is to help them use technology in ever new and innovative ways to deepen learning for students and make it more meaningful. (See Beyond SAMR Ladders and Pools: A Framework for Teaching & Learning)

                         As part of our trainings with 1:1 teachers, we have found it beneficial to provide them with time to share ideas with one another and talk through issues, whether we are meeting with a group of new or experienced teachers. Originally we called these conversations Roses & Thorns (what was going well and what is not). More recently some of our instructional technology coaches have called it Roses, Buds & Thorns, adding the sharing of a growth area/goal to the conversation.
                        Our high school instructional technology coaches have called these meetings "Roundtables." Two past roundtable sessions I attended are pictured.  During the first year teachers are in a 1:1 implementation the roses and thorns shared at these sessions tend to be about logistics and classroom management. After teachers are more experienced and comfortable with 1:1 teaching and learning, the topics and ideas shared become much more complex and creative, as teachers share innovative lesson ideas and ways they have used technology to redefine teaching and learning. Making time for the sharing of these ideas is a great way to spread the wealth of information and experience they collectively have and move your program further forward. We have grouped teachers in a variety of ways besides experience; sometimes teachers have been grouped by subject or grade levels, too. During the share time all ideas are documented so teachers can revisit them afterwards.

                         Besides sharing ideas with one another, we have also had teachers go out and observe colleagues. I mentioned this in a past post, too. Most recently, our high school instructional technology coaches dedicated 20 minutes of a training session to classroom observations. They asked teachers to visit about three classrooms for around five minutes each, with only one class in their own department. Afterwards they regrouped and debriefed. Teachers shared what they noticed about instruction, student engagement, and the use of technology. 

                         This process of ongoing sharing, dialog, reflection and colleague observation is one of the keys to our success and growth of our 1:1 program. You can learn more about our it, iPads, and use of technology for learning in the additional related posts below:

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                        Monday, March 6, 2017

                        Part II: Technology Shouldn't Be Absent When the Teacher Is: Flipped Video Instruction for Substitute Teachers

                        Watch Reserve Teacher Technology Training Video (7 Mins)


                        A while ago I wrote that Technology Shouldn't Be Absent When the Teacher Is. I mentioned how critical it is that the substitute teacher step right in without any problems so student learning continues and listed five ways to ensure this happened. In Minnetonka because so much instruction is done with the help of technology, it is super important that all of our reserve teachers know how to use it. There is so much a reserve teacher needs to know: from turning on the projector and sound field, to finding the electronic lesson plans and taking attendance, to troubleshooting and classroom management in a 1:1 environment, to working with Schoology, iPads, and SMARTBoards.

                        In the previous post, I explained that one of the five ways to ensure substitute teachers are ready is to provide them with training. Unfortunately, not all of our reserves can get to our fall training session or were even working in our schools when the training was offered, so we recently created some flipped instruction videos to show any reserves in Minnetonka the basics of using and managing our technology in the classroom. Middle School West Instructional Technology Coach Sara Hunt worked with our videographer, Andy Smith, to create a series of instructional videos. The seven minute video can either be watched in its entirety or is split into the following short segments for reserves to easily view only what they don’t know:


                        Sara scripted out the videos to get to the essentials of what reserve teachers need to know. She also gathered some student volunteer actors and obtained parents’ permission to be filmed for public viewing. The the segment about “Tech for Learning”, she shares classroom management tips and common vocabulary used in our 1:1 iPad classrooms. With reserve teachers having this knowledge about both behavior management and how to operate technology, they will be even better equipped to insure that learning is uninterrupted when the regular classroom teacher is absent.

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                        Monday, September 12, 2016

                        Technology Shouldn't Be Absent When the Teacher Is: 5 Ways to Ensure Substitutes Are Ready

                        Just like students, sometimes teachers are absent, whether it is for a meeting, conference, or due to illness. In a teacher's absence, it is critical that the substitute teacher step right in without any problems so the learning continues. Because so much instruction is done with the help of technology, it is also essential that reserve teachers have access to and knowledge about using the necessary technology for uninterrupted learning to happen. Here are five ways to ensure it does:
                        1. Training
                          For many years we have been providing technology training for our pool of substitute teachers. Each year we offer technology classes that reserve teachers can take to better understand our systems such as SMART Boards, iPads, Schoology, Google Apps for Education, and more. We want reserves to be comfortable enough to jump right in where the regular teacher left off. We offer these classes in August and during the school year.  

                        2. Access to Necessary Accounts and Data
                          To protect student data and ensure security of our systems, regular classroom teachers do not share their personal login username and passwords with a substitute. Instead, our Technology Department generates logins for reserves. Substitute teachers receive this information from building secretaries when they report to the school office at the start of the day.  These accounts and passwords are frequently changed protect data security.

                        3. Access to Needed Hardware
                          All of our classrooms have a desktop PC workstation connected to the projector, so the hardware and platform is consistent from room to room and building to building. We don't need to worry about the teacher taking a laptop home with them and there not being technology for the substitute. I was surprised recently to hear a teacher from a different district describing how their teachers use laptops but reserves are left without any computer to use since teachers take them home nightly. If your school uses laptops, be sure to have enough available for every reserve teacher so technology access for instruction can remain consistent and available.

                        4. Access to Full and Clear Instructions and Files
                          Our teachers leave their sub plans and files in a shared network folder that is accessible to reserve with their login. More and more often, teachers are even recording short videos and screencasts with their instructions prior to their absence, speaking directly to the students so it is clear what the lesson and assignment is. They also post this video to their Schoology classroom website and some even let the students know ahead of time that they will be gone. This eliminates any confusing or reteaching of complex content that could occur when a reserve does not fully understand or explaining things the way the teacher wanted them to do.

                        5. Access to Help When Needed
                          If the reserve teacher needs help, our Media Center staff is their go to point and first stop for technology questions and issues. We also have offered technology training for our paraprofessionals for years, knowing that this is not only important for them so they can better assist students, but also that a paraprofessional may often help the reserve teacher troubleshoot issues if necessary.
                        Do you have other tips for successfully preparing your reserve teachers to use technology for instruction? If so, please share them!
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