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A gifted education specialist explains how to energize professional development while minding your budget.

Effective professional development walks that fine line between satisfying the teachers and satisfying building-level, district-level, state-level, or national-level expectations of what teachers need to be learning. If we focus solely on what teachers request, some important topics could be overlooked. But if we focus solely on fulfilling bureaucratic expectations, the teachers can become a less-than-receptive audience.

My district has implemented a few strategies in recent years that have proven to be very effective. Perhaps some of these ideas could work in your location as well. • Give teachers a role in planning

I like the idea that children could use this to devise activities which, rather than testing or extending their skills by doing the activity itself, does so by requiring them to design the activity themselves

For example, when creating a quiz they may have to think about issues like the path taken by the user, how to frame the question, show the scoring will work, and what sounds (if any) to use for the feedback.

News & Views A Preview of 2DIY By Terry Freedman Created on Wed, 14 Jan 2009, 09:33 Email this article  Printer friendly page Email the author Listen to this article if ("">"") { document.write (""); document.write (""); document.write (""); } I've just received a link to download the latest program from 2Simple. Called 2DIY (for non-Brits, DIY = do-it-yourself, a shorthand term for home making things like bookshelves for the home), it enables users to create their own games and exercises.I've had a quick exploration, and it is looking very good. Read on for a quick thumbnail sketch, and why I think you should look into it.Back in the 1990s I used to love looking at shareware games developed for the educational sector. Some of the games were quite fun, but the problem for me was either that the game wasn't really educational at all, or that it didn't quite do what I'd have liked. Unfortunately, I never had the time to develop my games programming skills in order to rectify the situation.I think 2DIY would have been a step in the right direction.I think the best way of describing the program -- bearing in mind I've had it installed for less than an hour -- is that it's the programming equivalent of a painting or desktop publishing program. What you have  is a suite of specialised  tools, and you can use them to build yourt own games and activities.You can see from the screenshot that the range is quite extensive. The manual is easy to use, and there are videos and examples available.It has the ability to let you import pictures or select from a range of ones provided. Indeed, there is quite a lot of control over what your completed game or activity will look like.What's more interesting to me, however, is what boxes it ticks if you put it into the hands of youngsters -- and I use the term "youngsters" rather than "children" for reasons which will become apparent

C-1.1 I show and explain the plan I followed, the information I gathered, or the work I created. (examples: text, images, sound, multimedia presentations, email, tables, spreadsheets, animation, web pages...) sa1.1 logs on and off ICT devices sa1.2 opens applications and files (examples: using Start menu, My Computer, desktop icons...) sa1.5 navigates within an application (examples: using icons, menus, keyboard shortcuts...) sa2.2 manages electronic files and folders sb1.2 recognizes and presses keys on the keyboard (examples: uses one finger, uses both hands, hunts and pecks, uses correct hand position while watching the screen, demonstrates speed and accuracy...) sb2.1 selects and uses peripherals to find / record / manipulate / save / print / display information (examples: microphones, digital cameras, video cameras, electronic whiteboards, digital microscopes, joysticks, touch screens, storage devices, compact flash memory, data projectors, TVs, printers...) C-2.1 I discuss my work with others at a distance by using electronic communication tools. (examples: email, Internet, threaded discussions, videoconferences, chats, instant messages, camera phones, blogs, podcasts, online whiteboards...) sa1.11 sends and receives text messages and electronic files using rules of etiquette (examples: not typing in all capital letters, filling in subject line…) C-3.1 I communicate with a wide audience and collect feedback to improve my work.

Maybe good teaching and good use of the web is about all about crafting the way we live our verbs and our adjectives. It’s about paying attention to what kids are doing: where they can engage and how they can connect. Maybe our job is simply to study them in action, determine which of those skills need further support, provide feedback, and shift our position and the support we provide in response. Teachers who wonder how the web can revolutionize teaching and learning might appreciate this Common Craft-style video by Leigh Murrell and Heidi Beezley: