Last year, Churchland Elementary stepped out of the box and flipped our technology professional development by implementing the Teacher App Challenge where our teachers earned badges or icons after they learned a new technology tool and integrated it into a lesson they created. Although it was not the traditional way of doing professional development, it worked. Sue Tobin and I created this website that taught teachers how to use the app or website, showed examples of student work, and gave them ideas on how to use the technology in their classroom. The teachers seemed to like that they were able to pick and choose which apps or websites to learn and when and how they could integrate them. It created conversations between colleagues on grade levels where they asked how each other were integrating the tools. It opened doors into classrooms for collaboration between myself and the teacher. I was pleased that staff members who hadn’t necessarily been a “techie teacher” before, changed and emerged as teacher leaders in our school regarding technology. This year, we’re continuing that flipped technology PD along with stepping out with a new challenge. We’re creating a makerspace and we’ve redesigned the schedule so that the students have more time during media lessons. This framework sets up an environment that allows for quality lessons that will have great impact on their learning. The lessons will include many STEM challenges and require the use of materials in the makerspace, they will also center around what their teachers are teaching in the classrooms. Additional time slots will be filled with collaborative lessons between myself and the teachers with the hope of integrating the makerspace. We don’t have everything we need yet, and it will probably take a while to get everything, but I believe having a vision for where you want to take your media center is one of the most important things you can do. I can’t wait to see how implementing a makerspace changes the learning environment in the media center! As you start this year, challenge yourself to do something you’ve never thought you’d do. If you’ve taught the same lessons year after year, challenge yourself to throw them out and research new ways of doing things. If you’ve never used a lot of technology in your lessons where your students are the users of the technology, make that your challenge and sign up for NCTIES. I promise you will find a wealth of ideas and ways to use technology! If you’ve haven’t collaborated with teachers very much, challenge yourself to find out what they are doing in their rooms and plan some engaging lessons with them. If you’ve been thinking about a makerspace but not sure about doing one, challenge yourself to start! Here’s our list of materials we are collecting. Whatever it is, CHALLENGE YOURSELF to step out of the box and become the best librarian/media coordinator you’ve ever been! Robin Snider Churchland Media Coordinator
1 Comment
Lorie Steed
9/3/2015 10:19:53 pm
Great post, Robin! I love the "badge" idea and am interested in trying it at Central. Will definitely be checking out your makerspace ideas too!
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