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Is a lack of PD a barrier? Professional development is a barrier, although I think they can teach themselves much of what teachers need to be learning to be able to modernise their classrooms. The worst thing a teacher can say is: "who's going to teach me how to do that?" Teachers are teachers and should be able to teach themselves what they need to know. If they can't then they probably shouldn't be teaching. You want a teacher who can keep up. There are networks of other educators out there that can connect you with new skills. Professional development doesn't have to be something that is done to teachers - it can be just ongoing conversations they're having with other professionals that they're learning from every day.

Teachers have no time to waste on unproductive or unnecessary professional development activities. But what about those times when the professional development is good, but the professional behavior in the room isn't? During a discussion about the highs and lows of professional training, educators in the Teacher Leaders Network shared some of their "PD pet peeves." A chief target of their criticism: their own colleagues.

Blog posting from Vicki Davis

Start spreading the News to leave some PD time open during the K12 online conference October 20-24 and 27-31! If you want to download the flyer you can get it in PDF format. http://k12onlineconference.org/ Julie and I met 3 years a go at the K12 online conference and shortly thereafter the first Flat Classroom Project was born. Little did we know we'd be keynoting a strand so soon. But the best thing about the K12 online conference is you -- us. All of "us" -- the loosely defined, ever changing edublogosphere full of plurkers, lurkers, and prolific conversationalists. So, you've been hanging around the fringes wondering if all of this "stuff" is for you and your classroom. I challenge you -- read / listen to ONE session -- participate in ONE conversation. Just dip you toe in and see what you think! Share what you're doing! Learn from others! This is not about any ONE person telling US how to do things the best way. This is about US telling US how to do things. Free. By teachers and educators for teachers and educators. What is there to lose?

Ray & Coulter (2010) supports this stating that currently, teachers as a collective, do not see the potential for technologies to aid in the development of new knowledge, active engagement and linkage of knowledge to a real-world setting.

This site has some actual lesson plans and activities for the NXT robots.

The following lesson plans are for free use by Teachers of Robotics using the LEGO NXT Mindstorms Education kit. There are Junior, Middle and Senior School Lesson Sequences and plans that build on Robot Educator. They are designed to be used in an approximate 6 week block, but feel free to access single lessons.

"Science4Us is a standards-based digital science curriculum that teaches science using the 5E inquiry-based instructional model. In addition to over 350 digital games and online activities, there are tons of offline experiments and hands-on projects to keep students engaged and excited about science.  It's a great choice for teachers looking to include cross-curricular activities that connect science instruction to math and language arts. Students will also learn the importance of notetaking and observing, with their very own digital notebook."

ICTeD Services offers professional development to schools. It in located in Melbourne, Australia. ICTeD Services specialises in teaching Information and Communication Technology skills to whole schools, to teams of teachers, and to groups of teachers and students learning together. These skills can include the use of digital video, animation, multimedia, Web 2.0 technologies, and website design and can be integrated into a variety of curriculum areas.

110 responses in this conversation about the tall poppy syndrome. I thought it was just in Australia