WEEK 5 BLOG POSTBLOG POST PROMPT
What does a teacher leader need to do to support the growth of other teachers in using technology? First, the teacher leader needs to know the vision of the principal and the goals of the school. Also, the teacher leader needs to know each teacher in relation to his or her individual strengths, weaknesses and concerns in using technology. Finally, the teacher leader needs to know what resources are available to the teachers he or she is leading. With these things in mind, the teacher leader can begin to build an individualized plan for each of his or her teachers. The more quality professional development (PD) and teacher “buy-in” the better chances for success. Slow but steady progress is the best practice, always recognizing the individual anxiety levels of your teachers. At our school all teachers do use technology and we have a fair amount of resources to assist the teachers on this mission. However, as we move to blended learning, there have been many concerns. These concerns are real and need to be addressed by the teacher leader to help lead the school forward. So many of these concerns can be addressed through information provided within well-prepared and regular PD. In addition to professional development, the teacher leader should offer opportunities for teachers to observe other teachers using specific technologies or programs that have been previously identified and explained by prior PD. They should offer opportunities where the teacher leader would be invited into the teacher’s classroom to assist with the implementation of a new resource or to observe and give constructive feedback to teachers. It is important to form a good peer relationship in order for this to work. There should be no anxiety that information from such an observation would be shared with administration. Finally, I think that giving teachers a site where resources can be easily shared is an important part of support. For example, you could set up a web site that provides links and information to support teacher education. Additionally, you should offer an email or phone number for teachers with specific concerns and questions that they do not wish to address at an all staff professional development meeting. In short, you need to give your teachers the vision of the principal then provide the PD necessary and coach them while they build up their confidence level to implement the changes required to meet those goals. Teachers should be given support that recognizes that change can be stressful and teacher buy-in is necessary to reduce anxiety levels.
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June 13, 2015 Blog Post #4: Integration and blended learning framework: introduction and roll out.6/12/2015 BLOG POST PROMPT
This week we introduced blended learning. Your school is interested in enhancing technology usage through integration and blended learning might play a role in that. Building on the CIM, Adult Learning Theory, and Blended Learning, discuss how a framework like Blended Learning would be introduced and rolled out at your school site. It is detrimental that the introduction and roll out of a particular blended learning framework would include buy-in by the stakeholders (Stephanie Fagnani, 2014). The chosen framework should support the mission and philosophy of the school site. If stakeholders are included in the decision making process, then there probably will be additional buy-in. It would be necessary for parents, teachers and administrators to understand the cost and the benefits of the many options before a model is finalized. In order to create a successful program, the stakeholders must be willing to prepare the appropriate research and to plan and implement the necessary training. This would be a good time to begin researching appropriate devices and to review the infrastructure making sure that it will be capable of supporting the amount of devices that are in your plan. Selection of devices should be in part based on the desired outcomes of the stakeholders. If funding is an issue, this process may include the need to identify potential funding sources or fundraising to assist the creation of the proposed model. Another choice is to have the learners bring their own devices. BYOD could be a solution if you do not have a sufficient budget or if you have a small or no IT staff. When these details have been addressed, stakeholders should be trained on the usage of both the appropriate technology and the chosen blended learning model. Teachers will require adequate training and support at the school site in order to gain the confidence necessary to create a successful program. The amount of training necessary to implement the program may differ depending on the confidence level of each individual teacher. Stephanie Fagnani, 2014 suggests an alternate method of selecting teachers who are already drawn to data-driven instruction to pilot a blended learning program. These teachers can later be used to train other teachers at the school site. Another consideration is choosing online learning programs that will be best for the school’s plan. The stakeholders may choose a curriculum provider or go purchase programs “a la carte?” Check with the stakeholders to see if they are already familiar with online learning programs that could easily be integrated into the framework. (Alison DeNiso, 2014) suggests that some districts are using teachers to create online curriculum that can be utilized to integrate with in-class instruction. While a less expensive option, this could mean more training for the selected teachers. Idealistically, teacher training would occur when students are off-track and teachers had the time necessary to learn the system and for teacher collaboration. The technology integration specialist would use the core instructional model to guide teachers through the process. A good start would be teaching the staff standards based alignment, assessment and data analysis. The TIS should begin to demonstrate some of the tools and strategies that teachers will need to learn to use in the classroom during the training period. For example, if you want your teachers to use Plickers then you should demonstrate a lesson using the app to show its effectiveness. When working with the teaching staff it is important to go slow and try to get buy-in. One way to do this is to show your teachers how new knowledge and skills can immediately be applied to current problems. Demonstrate the usefulness of the technology and teachers will be more likely to participate. References Bailey, J. E., & Scott Schneider, Carri Vander Ark, Tom(2013, February) Digital Learning Now! Blended Learning Implementation Guide http://digitallearningnow.com/site/uploads/2013/02/DLNSmartSeries-BL-paper_2012-02-05a.pdf DeNisco, A. (2014, January) Digital Learning Now! Teachers create own blended learning courses http://www.districtadministration.com/article/teachers-create-own-blended-learning-courses Fagnani, S. (2014, August). DA District Administration. 7 steps for choosing platforms and changing the game in K12 achievement http://www.districtadministration.com/article/rolling-out-blended-learning BLOG POST PROMPT:
Identify and describe specific best practice for the use of technology for student learning, whether it is already taking place at your school or something you are looking to support your teachers with. How does it connect to a culture for learning or the core instructional model? I think that the most logical move in tech integration for our school would be to adopt the school wide use of one of the learning management sites such as schoology, moodle, edmodo. This step would begin the conversion of our school from the older method of teaching to blended learning. When I finally jumped into edmodo, I began to understand the importance of having this type of system to help communicate with our digital natives. Besides helping to manage a variety of functions both in and outside of class, students love it. The benefits are many, from offering centralized learning, tracking and reporting features, on line assessments, and of course simplifying the learning process. When all the classes have converted over to a learning management site, I anticipate the culture for learning will begin to move in the direction of additional tech integration. Learning management sites give teachers more tools to help them to guide instruction and thus students will have more interesting and challenging learning opportunities. Additionally, our digital immigrants will better able to communicate with the digital natives. So this is my goal, to teach our teachers the system before summer begins so we all can come back this fall benefitting right away from the shift in the culture of learning to the Blended Learning program with technology and the Core Instructional Model. These are steps we can take to make the learning environment more student centered and learning more successful for both teachers and students. |
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