Click on the above button to access the Google Slides file. Then, click the presentation button at the top right corner. Most of the slides have a voice over to help explain the slide. (At the time this file was created, Google Slides did not allow an audio file to be added per slide. Click the space bar to advance to the next slide after the voice over stops.

WHY

Why do I do what I do? Why am I in education? Why do I want to change things? I want to make the world a better place. I want the students in my class to love to learn and want to be better people. I am a lifelong learner and want my students to know they can be also. I want to change the way Professional Development and Professional Learning is done with teachers. In order to better prepare the students to actively participate in learning, teachers need to be better prepared by adapting to their style of learning and meeting them at their levels.

If the teachers are learning in a better way and doing more, they can share more with the students. Teachers require more hands-on learning in order to help them internalize the knowledge they are trying to acquire. When teachers are confident in what they are doing they will be more confident in presenting it to their students. We want the best for our students; therefore, we need to provide the best for our teachers.

The world is continuously changing, and education has to change with it. We have differentiated lessons for our students, and we need to do the same for our teachers. As Kristin Daniels mentioned in her TedTalks video, she worked with three kinds of teachers (Daniels, 2013). There are teachers who are not interested in technology or do not use it very much, some teachers that are an average user, and lastly, teachers that need very little help. This is the main reason a change needs to be made when presenting material to teachers. We are all at different levels and need different amounts of support, just like our students.

WHAT

The Google Slides presentation called, Differentiated Professional Learning For ePortfolios in the Pre-K Classroom, is for the technology department. This was made to show the technology department that we need to change the way we are teaching our teachers. Teachers learn at various speeds, too. What is presented in 45 minutes may not mean the teacher is going to be immediately able to return to their work environment and practice. Hours may pass before the teacher(s) can reflect on the Professional Development presented earlier. Attempting to replicate what was taught earlier becomes a foreign language. The teacher stops and goes on to something else more pressing. The technology department will have to come in and reteach the teacher.

I used the 5 Principles of Effective Professional Learning in my presentation. The first principal is time. Teachers need time to learn, implement, and time for reflecting on their learning. Next is support. Teachers need support to assist with their learning. The third principle is engage. Teachers need to engage in the learning process. In order for teachers to be productive learners, they need to be involved in the learning. The fourth one is model. Teachers need to see things in action. They want to see how the new ideas are going to work. They need to see how the students will react and process these new lessons. The last principle is specific. Teachers want to see things that apply to them. They do not want to “adapt” or “make it work”. They need to see an example of their grade level and their subject. Elementary school teachers are not interested in what works for high school. They do not relate to that at all.

HOW

When creating a presentation or an assignment, I always think about Google. I prefer to use Google for everything so that it is always saving, and I can always have it at my fingertips.

In order to create this assignment, I used my MacBook Air to create all of it. Google Slides does not have some of the features that PowerPoint has. I can download it as a PowerPoint while at school using a school computer and then make those adjustments, like transitions on the text boxes that move before I presenting it to my audience. I can then drop it on my Drive so that I have a PowerPoint version of it. This will allow me to log into any computer in the school building and access my work.

My co-workers were very kind to do some of the voice overs for me. They enjoyed hearing about my project and were happy to help. I used stock photos from Google as well as a YouTube video.

While creating the slides, I did some voice overs. Google Slides does not allow inserting audio, only video. (They did offer it for a few short days earlier in the year, but have now removed that option and working on making it better.) I decided to research a “hack” on how to do the audio or voice overs. I found one that suggested Screencastify and then make the insert very small in the corner of the slide. After recording the videos, they automatically saved on my Google Drive so they were easy to insert on each slide. It does have the option to start and stop at different points as well as to automatically play when moving to the slide.

I can put the Google Slides document into presentation mode and record a Screencastify of the entire presentation. It can be saved as a video so that can be shared with those teachers or administration who were not able to attend the original presentation.

After putting everything together and making adjustments, I am ready to present this to my audience.