Post date: Oct 26, 2016 3:47:46 PM
Our most important resource as educators might just be time. There are a lot of things that compete for our time. Responsibilities here at school can be overwhelming and often flow into time out of school and interrupt time with friends and family. Maintaining that time away from work is essential to staying fresh and invigorated in this demanding profession. All of this makes Professional Development and creating a Personal Learning Network very difficult. When providing Tech PD opportunities to you it is my goal to make them well worth your time and give you meaningful takeaways that are applicable to your instructional practices.
In an attempt to meet your needs we'll be offering targeted Tech PD opportunities on variety of afternoons between early November and Christmas. Those workshops will be:
Interactive Activities for SmartBoards (geared toward K-3 but open to all)
Interactive Activities for SmartBoards (geared toward 4-6 but open to all)
Using Technology to Stimulate Formative Assessment
Using Discovery Education (United Streaming) in the Classroom
Creating and Improving your Website
Another workshop, Integrating Technology into a Writer's Workshop Environment, will be forth coming in the new year.
My favorite resource for PD and creating a PLN is Twitter. Here's a great link to a LiveBinder created by Steven W. Anderson, a leader in educational technology integration and social media. Following the tabs along the top of the LiveBinder will walk you through an introduction to Twitter, how to get started, and some resources to go deeper. I've found that spending 5 to 10 minutes browsing what other educators that I follow are doing in their schools and classrooms, whether technology related or not, is extremely beneficial and inspiring. If you choose to do so there are some great opportunities to interact with other educators via Twitter Chats or replying to Tweets.
If you're interested, here are some educators to follow to get you started with your Twitter experience:
Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher Teacher, IT Director
Tom Whitby @tomwhitby Education Professor
Steve Anderson @Web20classroom Teacher, IT Specialist
Eric Sheninger @NMHS_Principal Principal
Shelly Sanchez @shellterrell ESL Teacher
Larry Ferlazzo @Larryferlazzo Teacher
Ewan McIntosh @ewanmcintosh Education Technology Consultant
Lisa Nielsen @InnovativeEdu Author
Sheryl Nussbaum Beach @snbeach Educator, Founder of 21st Century Collaborative
Wesley Fryer @wfryer Educator, Author
Lucy Gray @elemenous Ed Tech Consultant
Kyle B. Pace @kylepace K-12 IT Specialist