Professional Development Plan - Part 1

Overview:

"Six in 10 teachers feel they are inadequately prepared to use technology in classrooms, and those over 43 express less confidence in their ability to harness technology effectively (ISTE, 2015).” Professional Development (PD) is frequently taught in one day-long session even though research shows that attendees often don't incorporate their new learning into lessons in the classroom. Research also shows that people need to work at a new task for several hours before they arrive at mastery. Another key factor to consider is the time commitment for teachers and their need to find a substitute teacher if they take a day off to attend a PD meeting. Therefore, I have scheduled this course to be broken up into one starter session (in-person) followed by five mini sessions (online) to allow teachers to attend the PD without disrupting their classroom schedules. Each mini-session is held directly after school for one hour. All of the following sessions will be recorded so teachers can review the information repeatedly, if needed.

Target Audience:

For this Professional Development Plan, the target audience will be elementary teachers, in the case of our district that includes all teachers in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. Also included in this plan are the principals of the schools and any specialist that are interested in adding more technology programs to their lessons.

Trainers:

For this Professional Development Plan, the trainers will be the District-level Educational Technology Director, who will be leading the training sessions. There will also be a panel of experts made up of Kindergarten through eighth grade Technology Directors from various schools in our district. The panel of experts will demonstrate certain portions of the tutorial such as where to find pre-made lessons in Quizizz. Finally, there will also be trainers that are elementary teachers who already use Quizizz and would like to share their knowledge with other teachers. These teachers can be described as Teacher-Leaders. The teacher-leaders will be very helpful during breakout sessions where each one can join a different group to help lead that group through the tutorial.

Objectives, Goals, and Length of Sessions:

The goals of this 6-part lesson plan is to help teachers incorporate new technology programs into their lesson plans. Several ISTE Standards for Educators will be incorporated into this lesson including Learner, Leader, Collaborator, Designer, Facilitator, and Analyst. According to the Washington State technology Standards, this program will encourage:

• Collaboration between all teachers

• Ability for new tech programs to be used by more teachers effectively in the classroom

• A training system that works for all teacher’s schedules

• Training new teacher-leaders in order to create a “teach the teacher” program for sharing information.

In-person Meeting Objectives: This meeting will last two hours

• Demonstrate benefits of Quizizz and define reasons for using it in the classroom

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

Mini-session #1 Objectives: This meeting will last one hour

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

• Compose a lesson using the new technology

Mini-session #2 Objectives: This meeting will last one hour

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

• Compose a lesson using the new technology

Mini-session #3 Objectives: This meeting will last one hour

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

• Compose a lesson using the new technology

Mini-session #4 Objectives: This meeting will take place in the teacher's classroom so it will depend on how long the lesson is

• Demonstrate technological knowledge in a class lesson

• Evaluate the use of technology in a peer’s classroom

Mini-session #5 Objectives: This meeting will last one hour

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

Equipment Needed:

• Chromebook, Laptop, or Desktop Computer

• Internet Connection

• Access to a peer’s classroom while the teacher is in class

• Email capabilities

Impact on Learners:

The benefits of this program on teachers is great. It will offer another option for the way teachers present information to their students. It will encourage collaboration between fellow teachers in the district and allow teachers to fully learn new information and troubleshoot problems before presenting the program to their students. This will build the teachers confidence in using technology in the classroom.

Follow-up:

The follow-up is built into this program. In mini-session #4, teachers will use the new program within the classroom during a lesson with students. The benefits of this is that there will be a peer observing in the class at the same time, so if the teacher experiences a problem, the two teachers could collaborate and troubleshoot together. Additionally, the 5th mini-session is a review and follow-up session. Teacher will be able to ask questions and discuss how the program worked during the peer review of session #4. The panel of experts will be available to answer any questions during this session. Teachers should feel confident using this program in their classroom after this group of lessons. However, the Director is always available for follow-up phone calls as needed.

Possible Obstacles:

Some of the obstacles that may occur during this professional development session is that the teachers may not be able to attend all sessions of this lesson plan. A solution to this problem is to have the sessions that are taking place online to be recorded so teachers can watch them at their convenience before the next scheduled session.

Another possible obstacle in this lesson is the fact that many teachers may be still holding class remotely, or a school will not allow other teachers from outside their school to come observe in mini-session #4. If the teacher is able to record the lesson, the peer teacher could watch the recording at a later time. Another option would be take the class with another staff member from your school so that you would have a peer partner for session #4 within your own school.

A third possible obstacle for this professional development plan is that the teacher would not be able to attend the first in-person meeting. This may be due to a conflict in schedule, the inability to find a substitute teacher, or a great distance to travel. Since all remaining lessons hinge on the data provided in the first lesson, it is imperative that everyone attend this first lesson. If is does not work with their schedule, the teacher may want to wait until another session is offered.

Professional Development Session - Part 2

In Part 2, I have designed and created a professional development session that serves at least one of the goals from the above plan. For this group of lessons, teachers will learn how to use Quizizz.

The first meeting of this PD session will be held in-person. All teachers should bring a laptop computer so they can work on the Quizizz program during the training session.

Goals and Objectives:

• Demonstrate benefits of Quizizz and define reasons for using it in the classroom

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

Location:

District administration office building - main conference room. This is an in-person meeting.

Schedule:

Pre-meeting Homework - review Quizizz.com and the Online Tools for Teaching and Learning article for the benefits of using Quizziz in a classroom.

5 minutes Welcome

25 minutes The trainer will show a short presentation on Quizizz

15 minutes Trainer will walk through all steps of creating a quiz and posting it for others to take

All teachers will take the quiz the trainer created

30 minutes Teachers will work in groups of 2-3 and create a quiz using the Quizizz program.

Each teacher in the group should create the quiz for a different class (science, math, social studies, etc.)

20 minutes Each group of teachers will show the quizzes they created to the group

10 minutes Panel of experts will demonstrate where to find pre-made quizzes on the program

10 minutes Questions & Answer Period

5 minutes Closing and reminder of where to locate additional resources online

In part one of this series of the mini-sessions, the trainer will demonstrate how to customize the feedback for students and add images on the quizzes.

Goals and Objectives:

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

• Compose a lesson using the new technology

Location:

Within an online Zoom meeting

Schedule:

5 minutes Welcome

5 minutes Review of the parts of the program we know so far

20 minutes Trainer will demonstrate how to customize the feedback a student receives after each question

Demonstration on how to add images to the quiz

15 minutes Teachers will work in breakout rooms and create a quiz using the new information.

10 minutes Questions & Answer Period

5 minutes Closing and reminder of where to locate additional resources online

This meeting will be recorded so attendees can watch the tutorial again, if needed.

In part two of this series of meetings, the trainer will demonstrate how to use the "lessons" feature of the program. The trainer will also demonstrate how to help the students create a quiz to use in peer-to-peer feedback sessions.

Goals and Objectives:

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

• Compose a lesson using the new technology

Location:

Within an online Zoom meeting

Schedule:

5 minutes Welcome

5 minutes Review of the parts of the program we know so far

20 minutes Trainer will demonstrate how to use the lessons feature of Quizizz

15 minutes Teachers will work in breakout rooms and create a quiz using the new information.

10 minutes Questions & Answer Period

5 minutes Closing and reminder of where to locate additional resources online

This meeting will be recorded so attendees can watch the tutorial again, if needed.

In part three of this series of meetings, the trainer will demonstrate how to read and interpret the post-quiz reports. Teachers will be able to see how students performed on each question and use that information to figure out what needs to be retaught or readdressed, as well as which students might need some individual or small-group reinforcement.

Goals and Objectives:

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans

• Compose a lesson using the new technology

Location:

Within the attendees school or an online Zoom meeting

Schedule:

5 minutes Welcome

5 minutes Review of the parts of the program we know so far

20 minutes Trainer will demonstrate how to read and interpret the post-quiz results.

15 minutes Teachers will work in breakout rooms and evaluate the results of a previous quiz using the new information.

10 minutes Questions & Answer Period

5 minutes Closing and reminder of where to locate additional resources online

This meeting will be recorded so attendees can watch the tutorial again, if needed.

In part four of this series of meetings, the teacher will use Quizizz for their students during a class lesson and invite another PD member to observe. The other PD member will take notes on the lesson and report back to the classroom teacher after class (or when possible). If classes are still held online, the teacher can either invite the other PD member to join the Zoom meeting or record the meeting for the other person to watch and evaluate later.

Goals and Objectives:

• Demonstrate technological knowledge in a class lesson

• Evaluate the use of technology in a peer’s classroom

Location:

Within the attendees school or an online Zoom meeting

Schedule:

This meeting is scheduled by the individual teachers at their convenience. One teacher will teach a class using Quizizz in the lesson, and the other teacher will evaluate. The second teacher should use a chart similar to the one shown below and capture about 3-4 things that they notice, and 3-4 things that they wonder about. The remarks should be positive in nature and should constructively help both teachers to incorporate Quizizz into a lesson in the best possible way.

At a time that is convenient for both teachers, they should review the chart together for peer feedback and review.

All teachers should take on both rolls during this mini-session. The reviewers can be the same person, or another member of the co-hort.

This follow-up evaluation meeting will include a review of each teacher's presentation and a question and answer session for attendees on improvements or troubleshooting. This one-hour meeting will take place directly after the end of school.

Goals and Objectives:

• Recognize the benefits of incorporating technology into lesson plans.

Location:

Within the attendees school or an online Zoom meeting

Schedule:

5 minutes Welcome

15 minutes Each teacher will review how their lesson was successful or if they had any difficulty with it.

15 minutes Instructor will share the screen to show the program. Teachers can ask for a demonstration of any areas of concern.

20 minutes Breakout Groups – Each group will share their screens.

Each group will highlight their accomplishments or difficulties.

Peers will share best practices or ideas for improvement.

5 minutes Closing and reminder of where to locate additional resources online.

Final Course Evaluation and Feedback Form

This meeting will be recorded so attendees can watch the tutorial again, if needed.

References

Empowering teachers to implement technology-driven educational programs | ISTE. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.iste.org/explore/Innovator-solutions/Empowering-teachers-to-implement-technology-driven-educational-programs

Reflection on this Artifact:

This was easily my most favorite artifact to work on in this course, mainly because I see this as where my future plans are leading me. I am very committed to offering professional development about technology integration to all the teachers in our district. Even though this is not currently part of my job, I am already focusing on it and creating resources and plans to integrate this program once I complete my masters. I know I will use this many times in the future , refining and improving, to offer the best opportunities for teachers in a way that works with their already busy schedules.