I like the approach that Robert Fried suggests in the Passionate Learner–that of spreading the curriculum out like a garment on the table for students and you to add to and recreate.

As our teachers put it, there’s always things that can be modified, left out, or rethought so that there is more depth and maybe a little less “breadth”–because after all, what we are after is students who can think.

A team of teachers and administrators from a nearby school district visited my high school to observe our use of technology, we then designed a course based on what teachers wanted to learn. Last summer, I delivered a Web 2.0/emerging technologies class for one week during the summer. What made this class so unique, was the curriculum director and superintendent attended the first and last day of the class and gave the teacher feedback on their projects. We used blogs, wikis, podcasts, evaluated tablet/pc’s, interactive whiteboard and interactive response systems. Each student was asked to prepare a request/proposal outlining what they needed in their classroom. We then reviewed all the proposals and the superintendent did a great job of supplying teachers with the right tools with even with a limited budget.

We then had a part two of the class; we met once a month using a hybrid model, (4 hours face-to-face / 4 hours online) over a 5 month period. The teachers had an opportunity to embed what they had learned in the classroom over the course of the year. At the end of the year, they had a “showcase” of best practices; we shared with the district administration and invited members of the school committee. I am not exaggerating when I tell you, people were in tears, they were so impressed and proud of what the teachers and students had produced. It was amazing to see what these teachers had learned and applied in one year! The second group of teachers just completed class one and will continue with me next year.

This is a great professional development model, teachers decide what they want to learn and apply in their classroom and the school administration supports them!

I would encourage other schools to look at this model.

The focus on process will give participants confidence when it is time for them to turnkey efforts in their own districts. In my prior life as an information systems project manager, we followed a detailed “methodology” during system implementations. It was crucial operationally; everyone knew where they (and the project) stood at all times. I see the same discipline with PLP.

By using free tools and social networking technologies, we are “eating our own dog food,” relying on the very technologies we are promoting to transform professional practice. But it’s not about the tool. It’s about maximizing our effectiveness in the classroom USING the tools. And that, hopefully, is something every educator can get excited about!

-kj-

I am responsible for districtwide professional learning in learning technologies in Vancouver, Canada and we’ve been grappling with similar issues. Over the last 2 years we’ve been on a multi-layered model of individual hands-on side-by-side teaching and learning, pullout workshop series based on the side-by-side, districtwide series of increasing skill levels embedded within the disciplines. Most of these are attached with long term funding for professional learning conversations, observations and sharing across schools as well as practice. Sometimes this is quite messy as I can have 20 people with me in a room focused on 20 different projects at 20 different skill levels. I usually only accept what I call learning teams – teams of people who will support each other and have the “hallway conversations” whenever they need it. In their second year with us, they are responsible for mentoring with another and so the ripple extends outward.
We try to build in the time needed for people to get beyond to the level of comfort. This takes a lot of time and energy but the end result is worth it as we’re seeing this unfold.

I have to admit that none of this is done alone. I have a team of 4 that I work with directly as well a full group of 25 others who are responsible for the other disciplines. Together, our goal is to create the conditions for professional learning.

Listening to Sheryl and Will this week at Kean, as a K-12 team leader, it became crystal clear that PLP will be a very unique initiative – it’s a seed of positive change. The participating teachers will be catalysts for a new teaching and learning environment. The promise of environmental change, supported by the highest level of state educators, hopefully will not cause jealousy among teachers as some special initiatives might, but rather get them on the bus. Our group is very hopeful about the PLP project, and honored to be a part of it.

Thanks Robin for your comment as well. There seems to be so much competition between teachers some times that when only select people are participating in a program that aims to achieve wholistic goals, the buy-in doesn’t happen. I think about staff meetings where someone shares about a conference or a training opportunity they have had, and how often other teachers in the room are grading papers, talking to each other, or just straight up not paying attention. I’d really love to hear how you guys share what you are doing with the other staff members and how it is received.

My district just had the entire management team participate in a presentation and discussion with representatives from Apple about 21st Century Learning. Great stuff, but the teachers, school board members, and state government need to be exposed to this big ideas.

I wish you all the best in New Jersey. Is it wrong to say I am a little jealous!

As someone who cares deeply about my homeland (NJ), I really really really hope your discussions will broaden to include a wide range of activities, theories and curricular areas beyond Web 2.0 and the humanities. School progress is only possible with a deep understanding of learning, teaching, learning environments AND content knowledge with a willingness to question or replace the curriculum.

Too many efforts focus on one leg of the stool and most of what is called school leadership consists of content-free jargon.

I just spent three days creating the sort of technology-rich constructionist environment for Brooklyn science teachers that I would like them to create for their children, but we also discussed pedagogical strategies AND they learned new things and new things about learning. I will support them in any way I can, but I expect them to develop their own skills and content knowledge in addition to “teaching better,” because all three goals are critical and interdependent.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Gary

PS: I hope our soon-to-be-recorded interview will include a discussion of the fact that there are no new literacies

Will and I work hard to build the capacity of those participating in ways that help them understand the literacies involved in building a situated community of practice and personal learning network. Our goal is to model ourselves out of a job- and depending on the district that can be in 1 year, 2 years, etc.

In Alabama, the project started with 20 school teams from across the state and expanded to 40 the second year and then it took off statewide as team members began to connect, collaborate and call each other to action through various projects. The DOE got involved and now they are negotiating to become a 21st Century partnership state.

Different cohorts approach the team building in different ways- for example we have one cohort that is made up of 20 high school teams from the same district, whereas the NJ cohort is a state model.

Hope that helps.