Summer 2009 Professional Development Offerings

Amazing, as I sit in the office composing this it is April 6th; we are expecting snow flurries this evening!  Then again, not so surprising as the temperature on my weather tool bar says it is currently 37, and that is probably the high for the day.  Makes it hard to think about what professional development you might be interested in for the summer training sessions as you put on a winter coat to come to work.  While all of our teachers were out last week on spring break, the Technology Integration Coaches and myself were busy writing course descriptions and loading all summer training opportunities into our PLAN (Avatar) system so that you could begin making choices, based on your professional growth needs for Professional Development for next school year.  I must say we have another outstanding slate of offerings to choose from this summer.  Details about many of them will be provided in these next couple of blog postings.

Teacher ICT Certification course has been updated for this summer.  All teachers in the CMCSS are expected to become Teacher ICT certified.  This course is NOT for year 1 teachers but any who have completed their 2nd year teaching in the district who have not had the course are encouraged to take it.  Beginning this summer, teachers will need to sign up for  three interdependent sections or parts.  Teacher ICT Part I is conducted online as a basic introduction with some readings/discussions to consider and to allow time to begin brainstorming/thinking about possible lesson ideas driven but content standards.  This facilitated part has three cohorts beginning June 1 and another three beginning July 6.  You must complete Part I prior to attending Parts II and III.  You may, however; register for all 3 parts at once.  That said, anyone who has not completed Part I will need to do so prior to attending Part II, and be finished with Part II prior to attending Part III.  Teacher ICT Part II, is a study of Project Based Learning while integration Technology and Teacher ICT Part III is using Slam Dunk Lessons as a way to effectively infused content with technology when it “fits”.  Technology trainers have worked hard this year to update this offering and make it an outstanding way to really learn to integrate technology with your students efficiently and even, more important effectively.  We believe you will enjoy this approach as many best practices are modeled throughout the 3 parts of training.  There is also being offered a 100% Online Teacher ICT course which will begin early June and run along the same lines of the blended course.  You should be comfortable with online learning and a self-motivated learner, if you choose this approach.  Any who register for this course will be able to audit the F2F (face-to-face) sessions if they need additional assistance.  Both the blended and 100% online Teacher ICT certification offerings are 18 hour professional development experiences.  However, all lesson plans and teacher artifacts must be completed and submitted before certification is awarded.

Next on the menu of sessions is the Teacher ICT Advanced – The Next Level Course – this is 21 hours of professional development and those who participate become a member of a PLC studying best practices from the experts in the technology literacy industry.  This is also a 100% online, facilitated course that runs throughout the summer. Those in the cohort last summer were not ready for the course to end continue to have online discussion with a members only online forum

Effective Classroom Management Strategies for Technology Integrated Lessons is a self-paced, 3 hour online course offered continuously.  Each week the facilitator adds new registrations to the course, and notifies new participants they may begin by emailing complete directions for accessing the course and any other instructions.  Credit is awarded on the last weekday of each month.  So if you register on June 1 you have 30 days until credit is awarded and if you register June 23 you have 7 days.  The course takes approximately 3 hours to complete and is done 100% online.

We are currently writing additional online courses that will become available as we complete them.  All technology online professional development courses are run through our CMCSS MOODLE.

Also offered this summer are PowerTeacher trainings scheduled for near the end of July to train teachers new to the district how to manage their electronic gradebook as well as those who feel more comfortable with training before adopting the new features rolled out in PowerTeacher 1.5.  Two sessions will be devoted to Kindergarten teachers to address their unique needs as well.  Technology Model Classroom training has been slated for those teachers getting a model classroom.  CPS, Classroom Performance System, (blue clickers) training will be offered with “just the basics and getting up and running” offered in the mornings and “more advanced features like using Examview” offered in the afternoon.

New teachers to the district will have the opportunity to attend a “Get Hired/Get Wired” training any Friday morning throughout the summer.  Each group will have a menu of selections to choose from to prioritize their needs in the 3 hours available for training.  They will also be briefed on other technology professional development sessions offered in the district.

Creating the Protected Student Web Presence – Glogster is a new offering this summer.  It stems from requests our teachers have made to have a way to showcase student products online in a safe manner.  Glogster will be our tool of choice.  It is by no means the only tools available nor will it always be first choice.  During the session teachers will be guided through the features available in Glogster and why it is the tool we have chosen.  They will also be given instruction in making use of our www2 server and linking files from within their sites folder if that is a better choice for their needs.   That is what it consistently boils down to in this field.  Finding the tool that works best to deliver the functionality you need today.  And, realizing that tomorrow another tool may better serve your needs.  Our team really likes Glogster and the features it provides that make it a good fit for many of you.  Wikis is another tool that can also be used effectively to communicate student work and course objectives and we also offer Wikis and Blogs (and those BEARS, the Aggergators, Oh My!) this summer.

Last one for this posting…we have a new 2 day, 12 hour offering called PLN or Personal Learning Network.  So much information is available to anyone with an internet connection today that it is becoming imperative to learn to bring the information you consistently search for to you rather than you having to constantly search for it.  This session is designed to bring many Web2.0 tools to you to assist with that wherever possible.  It is stretched over 2 days to allow ample time to practice and “own” those tools which best fits your needs.  There may well be time during class where you are working in familiar territory.  You need to have in mind several areas of interest or need to explore so that your time is devoted to creating your own personal reference library or network to draw from as you plan and teach.

Next blog posting will provide additional details of other offerings being brought to you this summer…until then!