Professional+Learning

School Happenings
A Whole New Mind and Did You Know Learning and Reflection Session

An Exploration of Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts (and a few other cool digital tools)

Summary of First Year Benchmarks in the Learning Community (August 2007 - August 2008)

Summary of Second Year Benchmarks in the Learning Community (August - December 2008)

Frameworks of Learning Developed by Teachers in Spring 2008

[|21st Century Pedagogy] [|No Future Left Behind] (Suffern Middle School students) [|A Vision of K-12 Students Today] [|Digital Kids @ Analog Schools] [|Teacher Movie] [|Administrator Movie] [|Introducing the Book: Medieval Help Desk] [|Did You Know 2.0] [|A Vision of Students Today] [|The Machine is Us/ing Us] [|Information R/evolution] [|A View of 21st Century Learners] [|Welcome to Your World] [|Free Range Learning]

[|Educator Technology Literacy Rubrics] Incredible resource!

[|Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional] From eLearn Magazine

From Bill Ferriter [|VoiceThread on The Power of Professional Learning Communities] [|Advantages of Asynchronous Conversations]

[|Moving Beyond the Classroom: The Growing Role of Teacher Leaders]

03-14-08 Edutopia [|Open Professional Development: Learning in the Classroom World]

Teachers! Overwhelmed with the fast past of technological change and professional learning? Check out the wiki Keeping Up. The scenario: "Rob feels totally overwhelmed with the fast pace that elearning is moving, and he is not sure of the best strategies to use to try and keep up....especially on top of a full-time teaching load. Do you relate to Rob? Do you understand how he feels? So what can you do?"

Please check out the [|2007 Edublog Awards]. Categories include: Best Teacher Blog, Best Educational Wiki, and Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service.

This blog post won most influential post of 2007. From Carl Fisch. I[|s It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?] And, this blog post was nominated in the same category. From Kris Bradburn: [|How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci].

Click here to learn more about Twitter. And read below how Twitter is used to support teachers as leaders!
 * The Power of Twitter**

Famed 21st century learning pioneer Vickie Davis' (a.k.a. Cool Cat Teacher) blog [|Twitter Poll Results: What Web 2.0 Tools are Teachers Using Now?] The results: [|voicethread], wikispaces, and [|Google Docs] are leading the pack.

Vickie writes, "What is impressive to me is to see what educators are doing and to hear it from them. This will be my answer to those who go to conferences and say that "it is just the presenters talking about it, people aren't really using these tools." Twitter lets the teachers speak out. Real teachers all over the world are using Web 2.0 tools in their classroom. Will your students be able to compete or understand their students when they sit beside them in college?"

=TEN THINGS WE MAY NEED TO UNLEARN= Will Richardson
 * We need to unlearn the idea that we are the sole content experts in the classroom, because we can now connect our kids to people who know far more than we do about the material we're teaching.
 * We need to unlearn the premise that we know more than our kids, because in many cases, they can now be our teachers as well.
 * We need to unlearn the idea that learning itself is an event. In this day and age, it is a continual process.
 * We need to unlearn the strategy that collaborative work inside the classroom is enough and understand that cooperating with students from around the globe can teach relevant and powerful negotiation and team-building skills.
 * We need to unlearn the idea that every student needs to learn the same content when really what they need to learn is how to self-direct their own learning.
 * We need to unlearn the notion that our students don't need to see and understand how we ourselves learn.
 * We need to unlearn our fear of putting ourselves and our students "out there" for we've proven we can do it in safe, relevant and effective ways.
 * We need to unlearn the practice that teaches all students at the same pace. Is it any wonder why so many of our students love to play online games where they move forward at their own pace?
 * We need to unlearn the idea that we can teach our students to be literate in this world by continually blocking and filtering access to the sites and experiences they need our help to navigate.
 * We need to unlearn the premise that real change can happen just by rethinking what happens inside the school walls and understand that education is now a community undertaking on many different levels.

[|Doing What Works] From Education Week "First, the Department of Education created the What Works Clearinghouse, an online source that educators and policymakers could turn to for the lowdown on what research has to say on the effectiveness of particular educational programs and practices. Now comes Doing What Works. Launched by the department Nov. 2, Doing What Works, found online at http://dww.ed.gov, aims to help educators and administrators put into practice research-based educational techniques."


 * What is 21st Century Skills Professional Development?**

21st century skills professional development prepares teachers and principals to integrate 21st century skills into their classrooms and schools. Professional development for the 21st century should be a part of a comprehensive emphasis on 21st century skills that includes updates to standards and assessments.

Successful 21st century professional development programs: • Ensure educators understand the importance of 21st century skills and how to integrate them into daily instruction • Enable collaboration among all participants • Allow teachers and principals to construct their own learning communities • Tap the expertise within a school or school district through coaching, mentoring and team teaching • Support educators in their role of facilitators of learning • Use 21st century tools

From Partnership for 21st Century Learning

[|A Facilitator's Guide to Professional Learning Teams] by Anne Jolly
 * Also see [|Educator Quality: Professional Learning Communities] at SERVE

[|All Things Professional Learning Communities]

[|Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Webinar Series]

[| Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Research Reports]

//[|Building Virtual Communities]// From 21st Century Connections

[|Digital Age Literacy Professional Development Model from Lawrence Township in Indiana]

[|Digital Edge Project] The Digital Edge Learning Interchange--from Apple--is an online library featuring National Board Certified Teachers in exhibits of exemplary teaching.

[|Faculty 2.0] The article addresses how teachers must transition teaching practices for Net Generation students. From Educause Fall 2007

[|LoTi Framework] by Dr. Christopher Moersch In 1994, Dr. Christopher Moersch developed the Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) scale in an effort to accurately measure authentic classroom technology use. This scale focuses on the use of technology as an interactive learning medium because this particular component has the greatest and lasting impact on classroom pedagogy and is the most difficult to implement and assess. The challenge is not merely to use technology to achieve isolated tasks (e.g., word processing a research paper, creating a multimedia slide show, browsing the Internet), but rather to integrate technology in an exemplary manner that supports purposeful problem-solving, performance-based assessment practices, and experiential learning--all vital characteristics of the Target Technology level established by the CEO Forum on Education and Technology. ALSO SEE Featured Presentation: [|Using 21st-Century Skills to Increase Student Achievement]

[|National Staff Development Council]
 * [|Standards for Staff Development]
 * [|Test Your Professional Development IQ]

[|North Central Regional Educational Laboratory]
 * [|Professional Learning Community]

[|PBS TeacherLine] "is the premier professional development resource delivering courses online for Prek-12 teachers."

[|Professional Development Resources] From eSchool News "It's easy for today’s educator to feel overwhelmed--in a complex and ever-changing educational environment, teachers are often expected to complete more in one day than they have time for in an entire week. They must, for instance, reach increasingly diverse student bodies, meet standards, carry out assessments, integrate technology into the classroom, and meet certification requirements.

Luckily, with a new crop of online professional development opportunities, flexibility and convenience are becoming more than just a teacher ’s dream. With a reliable computer and internet access, teachers can access information and training to directly enhance their students’ learning--while gaining professional recognition!"

[|Teacher Leaders Network]
 * [|Professional Learning Communities Resources]

[|What Gen Y Teachers Want, Reveals Survey] Public Agenda Poll Results "Freedom to be creative" and the "power to make a difference."