Professional Learning

Professional Learning Plan

The Story Behind the Story.

As I reflect upon how technology is implemented in our Professional Learning Communities I thought about all the professional developments that lectured about all the new features programs could do, we watched videos on how to build instruction, and were lectured on how to use these new technologies. However, there was never time to use the program, ask questions, or reflect upon the implementation phase. As a learner, this format of PD did not work for my learning style. I learn best by being involved through the process! On top of this, we experienced a national pandemic at the end of last year. Due to Covid-19 our school shut down and did not return to face to face instruction from March to May. During that time our third grade team struggled to build, implement, and provide students with quality instruction through a virtual format due to the lack of knowledge in using these blended learning platforms. During this time, I realized teachers across the district were experiencing the same feelings. They felt unprepared, unqualified to teach virtually, and felt that they were failing their students. Which is why I created my "Call to Action Plan". Teachers need to have the time to learn about these platforms in depth. We need the opportunity to be involved in the learning process, experience how to use all the features, and have time provided to build content using the skills presented with their team in an environment that will support the learners. 

The Why- 

In March of 2020, COVID 19 opened up a world of education that most educators had never explored. Schools were thrown into an online form of teaching and in my case, we had 2 weeks to transfer our curriculum online. It was the worst. Our quality of curriculum was not rigorous, students had no clue how to use the platforms we were operating one, parents were extremely busy navigating their work and life changes. Fast forward to August of 2020 and students are still not in schools quite yet. The district gave us the summer to learn the program Canvas that the junior highs and high school currently use, yet elementary teachers as a whole was overwhelmed with information in a little time, with no real way of practicing their skills, which in turn lead to most of it being lost.

I believe online learning or blended learning could be greatly beneficial in multiple ways. It would allow teachers to have time returned to them within their daily schedules, student's with health concerns could feel safe in a learning environment, instruction could be differentiated, special services could be accommodated all through each individual's child's portal. I arrived at this specific need for change from my personal experience with blended learning and implementing Canvas in my current district. I am a person that likes to think they pick up on technology easy, I love using it and once I have learned I can generate ideas and ways to implement it independently. However, with the pandemic world we are living in right now, there is little time to build an effective course that is still rigorous and meeting all student's needs while using all the features. There was not enough time to teach or practice the features online learning platforms have to offer. 

The How-

When choosing how to create my work I decided a PowerPoint or Google Slide would be the best option. It would allow me to send or present the information to my administration depending on their schedules. I also you easily upload the slides to my ePortfolio to have my presentation with me at all times. To present the ideas to my administrator I decided to record a voice over using Zoom. That way I could send the presentation to my administration to view on their own time. My actual presentation would be longer and have more detail into the professional development. When planning the design and technique used in my presentation I thought about the videos we watched by Nancy Duarte, "How to Create Better Visual Presentations", "How to Present Properly" by Simon Sinek, as well as "How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint" by David JP Phillips. The information presented in those videos challenged me to rethink my ideas, organization, and decorations on the PowerPoint. Since my background is elementary, I tend to think the cuter the better. For this presentation I reminded myself I could still have fun and make it cute, but not overwhelming. I needed to focus on the content and ideas presented rather than the cutesiness of it all. I also wanted to ensure I clearly explained the 5 Key Principles of Effective PL within my PowerPoint presentation to strengthen my "Why".

Professional Learning Outline

Resources:

Graduate, S. (2013). Nancy Duarte: How to Create Better Visual Presentations [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so9EJoQJc-0

Gulamhussein, A. (n.d.). Teaching_Effective_Professional_Developmt.pdf. Retrieved August 30, 2020, from Dropbox website: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j13c5mk092kmqv9/Teaching_Effective_Professional_Developmt.pdf?dl=0

JP, D. (2014, April 14). How to avoid death by PowerPoint | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholmSalon. Retrieved November 22, 2019, from YouTube website: https://youtu.be/Iwpi1Lm6dFo

Life Mentor. (2018). Simon Sinek - How to present properly (Part 5) [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msvmLlAkOno&feature=youtu.be