Plea to Differentiate PD

Background:
Washington State just adopted a new teacher evaluation program (TPEP) and my district is working on how to implement it on the ground level.  After sitting through a "steering committee" meeting I wrote an email in responding to a comment my assistant superintendent made.  I believe that you could change the names and it could represent any school district in this state.

Dear Assistant Superintendent,

During yesterday’s TPEP meeting I asked about offering different opportunities for teachers.  Your response was that you would need to go back to the building level administrators and talk with them because having each teacher doing a different PD might be a workload issue for administrators [paraphrased].  I’d like to respond to this:

 

The accountability movement has shifted our focus, as teachers, away from covering material and towards student understanding.  I believe this shift is essential to improving education.  Teachers truly have to want each student to know and understand.  As teachers we have accepted the challenge to meet the needs of individual students (differentiate) in order to ensure their success.  I would argue there is no teacher in our District that has “figured out differentiation” because it is a mindset and will need continual adaptations to meet the changing needs of students.  This shift in mindset will continue to increase the workload of professional teachers.   As a profession we have taken on this burden of differentiation in the pursuit of improving education.

 Differentiation requires work, planning, and follow through.  The end result is a culture where the individual is valued.  The TPEP framework are the standards for teachers and provide their learning targets.  How a teacher gets to these learning targets is not important.  I believe we need to accept the challenge of differentiation as a district and model best practices.

What are your thoughts?  Have you already had this discussion in your district?  What was the results?  Are there any districts meeting the individual needs of teacher?

 

Mike Stratton

Digitizing Curriculum Step #1

Vision:
Teachers should be sharing their curriculum digitally to students, parents, staff, principal, and professionals outside of their building.  If every teacher had curriculum digitized: PLC's could extend beyond the classroom and collaboration could happen asynchronously.
Reality:
The average teacher has put an enormous amount of time and energy into their curriculum and the thought of having to digitize it is overwhelming.  As technology leaders we need to make sure that our schools are setup to help these teachers digitize their curriculum.
Technology for Digitizing Curriculum:

1. School Copier:  Most are networked and capable of scanning in worksheets and emailing them as PDFs.  Your copier might have this capability but no one knows how to use it.  Be the first in your building!
2. Print to PDF:  Your school may have a site license for Adobe Acrobat which allows you to create PDFs just by printing.  Once this software is installed then you can select your printer as "Adobe PDF."  This means that anything you can print a hard copy of you can make into a PDF.  There is also freeware PDF converters available.
3. Cameras:  This is a quick way to get some of our work digitized.  Use your iPad/iPhone to get a snapshot of: your handwritten notes, student exemplars, lab setup, or a picture of a worksheet.
4. Document Camera:  This deserves a separate mention from the camera because often teachers don't realize they can simply press a button and it will take a picture of whatever the document camera is viewing.  Some document cameras have software which allows the camera to be viewed and captured on the computer screen.
5. Screencast: If you want to capture what you are doing on the computer along with audio (ie PowerPoint lecture) then try Screencast-o-matic.  It has a free version and a Pro version.
6. Podcast: Use your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or your Bluetooth headset to capture the audio of a lecture.
7. LiveScribe Electronic Pens: These pens provide a good alternative for teachers who don't want to be videotaped and like to hand write their notes.
8. Video Recording (SWIVL): Anyone who has attempted to videotape a classroom lesson can attest to the hassles involved.  This upcoming technology is a stand for your iPad/iPhone that follows your movements and captures audio/video at the touch of a button.
9. Screencast Station: Create a screencast station setup somewhere in your school where teachers have access.  Here is my dream setup:
• Lenovo Helix or Surface Pro 2 with a stylus
• Blue Yeti USB Microphone
• Sound proof room for recording
10. Tablet + OneNote: OneNote is a hidden gem on most teacher computers with Microsoft Office.  It has the capability of capturing and organizing almost any form of digital curriculum.

Summary:
Teachers need the capability to digitize their current curriculum in order to get them to collaborate in this digital age.  It is our role as connected teachers and administrators to provide the technology and training needed for this to happen.