Group items tagged

Professional development days a.k.a. in-service days a.k.a. team-building days ... quite frankly, they suck for me; they are boring and a major waste of my time -- equally for those who are told to lead them and for the teachers who are required to sit and listen. I am not sure if those in command of designing and facilitating them care to do it, or are actually that far removed from the profession that they have no idea what is relevant. Maybe the leaders of professional development need professional development on how to do professional development.

"A new era of personalized professional development is sweeping into schools. We've created this guide to capture the extraordinary changes in PD tools and in the cycle of learning. We look here at tools that support how teachers engage with colleagues; that help teachers learn or find support for implementing fresh strategies and approaches; and that measure how that learning impacts practice in the classroom."

"IconArchive is a professional tag based icon search engine with more than 330,000 icons for web developers, end users and graphic artists. Also it is an inspiration source for new design ideas and a place to enjoy beautiful icons. You can collect, organize & share your favorite icons here with ease. If you want to customize your desktop, you can download icons for all operating systems, Win, Mac & Linux. Website or Software developers with demand for custom icon design could search for professional icon artists here. This may result in freelance jobs and/or design help for projects of any size. On our icon artists page you can select artists offering custom icon design."

"Personalized learning is on the rise for learners in our schools. Redesigned schools include personal learning plans, playlists of content tailored to fit each learner, adaptive curriculum, and access to learning anytime and anywhere.  That's great for students but what about teachers? Where's the personalized learning, the carefully constructed playlists, the pitch-perfect material that fits their grade level and subject needs and interests? "

"I recently worked on a book with Bill Ferriter and Jason Ramsden entitled Essentials for Principals: Communicating & Connecting With Social Media. As I was working on the professional development section I delved into the topic of Personal Learning Networks (PLN's). Now I fully realize that the majority of educators immersed in social media understand the importance of a PLN and how to establish one. Well, this post is not for you, but instead for a teacher or administrator that you work with that needs either a a little push to set one up or further explanation on it's value."

Still more ideas on the importance of networking and how to develop one.

"Before the advent of Twitter, most educators I know had limited opportunities to collaborate with colleagues outside their building. Some subscribed to listservs or participated in online forums, but these outlets lacked critical mass; teachers also networked at in-person conferences and training sessions, but these isolated events didn't provide ongoing support. Enter Twitter. I've heard many educators say that Twitter is the most effective way to collaborate and that they've learned more with Twitter than they have from years of formal professional development. Here are some of the specific ways educators are using Twitter to collaborate:"

EduClipper is the latest in a string of Pinterest clones, true (See below), but Bellow's experience in education - in the classroom and with professional development - should give him a leg up in creating a tool that'll work in classrooms and that'll work for teachers. EduClipper lets you build clipboards into which you can post links, images, videos and documents and upload files to share with others. These clipboards can be private or public - that's a key dfferentiator between eduClipper and its competitors- clipped for one's self and/or shared to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Evernote, and Edmodo or via email.

"Edmodo educators gathered online across the globe for a remarkable day of professional development. Teachers shared, inspired, and showcased ways they are using Edmodo and other digital tools in the classroom." These are the videos

Welcome to the Integrating Edmodo into your Classroom Lesson Plan Activity.  Edmodo is an amazing place where you can collaborate with other educators or students anytime anywhere.  As you progress through this activity, keep thinking about how you could use Edmodo in your everyday job whether it be a teacher, administrator, professional developer, or something else. 

"Education has always been a reflection of broader cultural values. As such, the roles of teachers and students have evolved as our models of education have moved from one iteration to another. Teachers who once traveled to town to instruct a heterogeneous room full of passive learners on matters of rote memorization have come to adopt new roles and philosophies toward learning. As these new models have emerged, educators have been required to hone their skills and adapt to ever changing sets of priorities, needs and expectations."

"I have written extensively on what makes a good blogpost and why it is so powerful. From personal experience blogging is one of the most beneficial professional development activities I have ever engaged with. I learn more from blogging than I do from almost any other activity I participate in. Here are 7 good reasons why teachers should blog:"

Google in EDU offers open technology to support learning for everyone, everywhere. Tools like Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education use the web to capture students' imaginations and inspire their curiosity. In this document, you'll find a compilation of resources that schools and districts across the country have used to successfully guide their Google technology implementation.

"A survey by George Lucas-funded teaching website Edutopia found that Pinterest was one of teachers' five favorite professional development websites. That year, Pinterest launched a new hub, "Teachers on Pinterest" to grow their education community even more, starting with a lineup of "star teachers" curating ideas about elementary school math education, classroom management in middle schools, and homeschooling."

"I have written extensively on what makes a good blogpost and why it is so powerful. From personal experience blogging is one of the most beneficial professional development activities I have ever engaged with. I learn more from blogging than I do from almost any other activity I participate in. Here are 7 good reasons why teachers should blog:"

"However, the current focus on initial teacher education as the be-all and end-all of teacher education ignores the importance of ongoing professional development. This should take place not only in the first years of teaching, but throughout teachers' careers. As a comparison, medicine graduates study at university for five or six years, then still need to undertake an internship of one year before being allowed to register for general practice. Most go on to undertake a further two to three years of residency before beginning specialist training. Perhaps we should be taking our cue from medicine, and treating our graduate teachers in a similar manner to medical interns and residents. Learning to teach is a process that begins at universities, but continues for an entire career."

"Get connected with Google+ is a short video for teachers promoting the value of using social media for connecting and developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN), showcasing Google+ as one option for a starting point. It can be viewed as a standalone resource but I envisage it being used as an engagement strategy for a face-to-face or online workshop for teachers."

"With over 170 million active users and playing a significant role in media consumption, Twitter has turned into the go-to site for real-time updates and gathering snippets of info from those we're interested in. Pretty much everyone knows how to put a tweet together and how to reply to users, but what about more advanced features such as shortcuts, apps and SEO. If you want to improve your knowledge or want to pick up a few tips and tricks to help you get more out of the service, then read on."

"I went to the homepage of EdcampHome and saw four amazing educators: David Theriault, Karl Lindgren-Streicher, Kelly Kermode, and Shawn White troubleshooting, discussing and working diligently to put this together via a Google Hangout being streamed live through YouTube and simultaneously embedded on the front page of the website. Tweets were flying and being used to communicate issues, compliments, and questions from educators all over the world who have never met face-to-face. It felt as if I was getting the opportunity to be behind the scenes at NASA during a space launch! I hope you take the time to watch even a few minutes of the amazing collaboration between them. The lengthy video is still on the homepage for viewing for now."

"Get your hashtags ready: Twitter is a far more effective source of CPD than more traditional approaches, research has found. Indeed, teachers believe they derive more from the 140 characters of a tweet than they do from several hours of seminars or lectures. Academics from two US universities surveyed 755 members of school staff about Twitter. They found that the most popular use of the social media website was for CPD, with many praising Twitter's advantages over more traditional methods. Twitter, many teachers told researchers, allowed them to create a virtual staffroom, filled entirely with their own choice of colleagues. Indeed, a middle school English teacher explained: "I have learned so much from other teachers. It has transformed my teaching. And this is my 18th year [in the profession].""