I have been answering several emails daily for that last several days from teachers wanting to know how they can get trained on PowerTeacher now that all slots are full during the weeklong training in July. We originally posted 1000 training slots during that week of July 21-25. (As a reminder if you are scheduled that week AM Session goes from 8-11 and PM Session from 12-3 –parking is at a premium and buses will shuttle from Norman Smith Elementary parking lot to assist with the situation.) A few buildings have scheduled training near the beginning of school. We intend to get EVERYONE trained. In fact, you will have to be trained before you receive your username and password.
Now how do we get to those who cannot attend in July? We are training two Points of Contact (POC) from every school. They will in turn train those in their buildings who were not able to get into training. Yes, it will be slightly later than the others but EVERYONE will be trained. We will meet with every POC and provide them with the training outline and all materials they will need. With a district the size of CMCSS now we will always have new teachers joining us and teachers leaving throughout the year. Training will need to be ongoing. The POCs will also assist with troubleshooting as needed.
We are working on training material now. All necessary quickstart cards or handouts will be posted on the Sharing Server (www2.cmcss.net) in Technology in PowerTeacher. You will also be able to get all documentation you may need by visiting our Empower Students Wiki. The PowerTeacher program has a very clean, simple interface (look) and so far does everything this classroom veteran would ever want a gradebook to do. Teachers will be taking attendance electronically now so you will not need to send that student down the hall with morning attendance. We will provide instruction on how to do that as well. And, for those familiar with K12 Planet, there are no more .tsr files to copy over to the server. When you click “publish” beside a grade it appears on the students scoresheet which the parents can access on their portal.
Any teacher who has not signed up…there are NO WAITLISTS because we only train 25 at a time in 4 labs. But, check back periodically as when someone cancels a slot may open up. Once again we will get all trained one way or the other.
Categories: Professional Development
May has arrived! Teachers across the district can see a light at the end of the tunnel. This year’s class will soon be moving on, students will be heading to the pool, and teachers will be taking that much needed breather. Well, a short breather at least. Just as my teachers are gearing down a bit; we here in Educational Technology Professional Development are gearing up to go into overdrive. What a summer we have planned. Already many of our professional development experiences are filling up.
Just a few reminders to consider. When you come to training at Greenwood you will need to park in back of the building. Spaces in front are limited to those making use of the Teacher’s Center and a few staff. Our inservices will be daily from 8-11 and 12-3 with an hour break for lunch. If you attend a 3 hour session you would attend either morning or afternoon. We will train Monday – Friday and we have something in store for you each day of each week with the exception of June 30 – July 4. we have no training scheduled during that holiday period.
Our goal is to provide something for everyone. I am often asked, Helen, why did you not schedule more of this particular offering? Why did you not add more __? With over 1800 teachers and many, many differing levels of technology integration; we strive to offer a menu that will satisfy everyone’s palate. New offerings are on the plate as well as some we continue to offer because the demand is there.
Understand also that if there are not at least 6 people signed up for a session that session will be canceled. It is not economically feasible for us to offer it to a smaller crowd. We will try to schedule it again in the future if there is a demand. Also, when it comes to online professional development each cohort must be large enough to sustain and be interactive. We are offering several this summer and it maybe necessary to combine the Teacher ICT Advanced courses to have a large enough cohort. That offering needs additional participants for it to be as interactive as it needs to be.
We strive to provide the best most comprehensive learning experiences possible. At times decisions must be made to safeguard the fidelity of the program. I would rather reschedule an online course and be successful than try to run it with insufficient participants and it fail.
PowerTeacher is filling up fast. Of course we realize not all will be trained during that week in July. We will make every effort to see that all receive the training they need. You will hear more about that as plans are finalized.
I hope to see everyone at some technology inservice over the summer. Your students… will love you for it!
Categories: Uncategorized
