BFTP: One staff development approach does not fit all
Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 08:49AM A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post February 10, 2007. This is the introduction to a longer article I'd fogotten I'd written for the MACUL Journal. The complete text is here.
Consider these teachers and their technology professional development needs:
Judy has just come back to teaching after a ten-year stint as a stay-at-home mom. During new teacher orientation, she learns that she is now expected to keep her grades using a computerized gradebook, take attendance online, read the staff bulletin as an e-mail attachment, use the district’s “mapping” software when writing curriculum, create all student materials using a word processor, and keep her classroom webpage current. There is also this strange looking device called an interactive white board in front of the room. “How, after only ten years,” she wonders, “can I feel so out of touch? And how do I learn to do all these things?”
Tom’s just about had it with the “personal narrative” unit in his writing class – he can’t get the kids interested. But he’s been reading that when students write for a wider audience than just the teacher, their level of concern and writing quality goes up. He thinks he’d like to try a class webblog so students can post their narratives and get reactions from other students. Ah, but where to start learning how to create a blog?
Juanita is a part of the site team that is responsible for the building improvement plan. One of the big tasks this year has been looking at student test scores and disaggregating the data for specific groups of students like English Language Learners. While the district uses a giant online data mining/data analysis program, its complexity baffles, not just Juanita, but the rest of the site team as well - including the principal.
Do any or all of these scenarios sound familiar to you? Judy, Tom and Juanita are all modeled after real teachers in the Mankato (MN) schools, but can be found in any district across the country. Each of these teachers has a very real, but very different need for “technology" staff development experiences. To think that any one training program or any one training approach will satisfy the requirements of all teachers in a district would be a mistake.
But how can any district meet the diverse technology training needs of all its teachers?
Reader Comments (4)
The longer I'm in my current PD job, the more I read on social learning, personal learning networks, or informal learning the more I believe in the power of coaching and online connections/learning.
HI Nathan,
For the self-motivated, self-aware, I would definitely agree with you. For many educators, a more directed form of staff development is needed unfortunately.
Doug
The district also would need to have reasonable expectations of the teachers' ability to get up to speed on these technologies AND give them the time and the support to have the training they need.
Hi Mary,
One would hope so, but I always find it incredible how many schools still seem to use the YOYO plan of staff development for tech - Your On Your Own!
TIES is an invaluable resource for its member districts. The rest of us kind of have to make it up as we go along.
Happy New Year!
Doug