Our media specialist, Ms. Henry, is a first year media specialist, but has directed staff developments for her previous school while teaching 5th grade. She surveyed the teacher at our school to see how they felt about the training they had before they got the Promethean Board. Many of the teachers felt they still needed training. She is proposing with the county school system technology personnel to provide another training particular to help with the Activhub, Activslate, and Activpen. Her goal is to arrange staff development whenever there is new technology to assist teachers and staff when using in the classroom. A few DO's and DON'Ts when arranging a staff development training that Ms. Henry recommend:
- Do make it fun for the staff that have to sit in;
- Don't make it last the whole day (after a while the fun will run out);
- Do make a survey to find out what the teachers need training with;
- Don't have it on a Sat. unless the staff will receive a stipend.
Technology training introduces the staff with what is new in technology and to enhance curriculum for our students.
By Cecilia:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the blog. I like your media specialist's idea of surveying the teachers to find out what their needs are, before embarking on a long-drawn out in-service module. She is wise to do that; then customize her training to what they need.
Our school is fortunate to have many grades with either Smart boards or Promethean boards. By the end of the school year, our whole school will have them, including kindergarten. The feedback that I've received about them is both hot or cold, literally. Either a teacher uses it everyday or not at all. Quite frankly, I'm not really sure who is responsible for the training. Should the vendor hold some training sessions before the school year starts, so the teachers can start planning lessons? My mentor is very tech-savvy, very accommodating, and will train anyone on anything. I'm just not sure where the break-down is.
I love the do's and don'ts to an inservice training! I love to survey the staff to see what they need. The only other suggestion I have is to level the groups based on technology experience. It is hard for someone who is "tech savy" to sit in a room with teachers who still do not know how to create a folder on their desktop. They get frustrated easily and then they are off task for the rest of the session. I have been there and realized quickly to make sure teachers are "ability" grouped. :)
ReplyDeleteI am too not sure where the breakdown is for a county. I guess I am just blessed to be at a school where the principal expects the teachers to be leaders and help with leading these staff development tasks. We were one of the first 21st Century schools in the county and her expectations are HIGH for all of us. It seems that most are living up to those expecations. We have had class blogs, SMART lessons, document cameras, and computer labs since we opened 3 years ago. After reading these blogs today, I think that alot of our school is using their technology because of our administration.
I completely agree that we need chances to interact with technology before we can teach with it in the classroom. I do not expect my students to understand a concept when all I've done is talk and they passively listen. I must allow them to explore materials and try things out before they can understand a new concept. People hired by schools to train teachers in how to use technology must understand that the learning styles of teachers are no different than their students. Teachers need brief trainings, not ones that last an entire day. We also need "cheat sheets", rather they be print outs or electronic formats we can access at a later time. Training for technology is important, and we must go about it the correct way or we risk losing the enthusiasm of teachers.
ReplyDelete