Teaching Practice Under the Sea: The Electronic Portfolio and Me PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PLP Training by David Gibson
David Gibson – The Director of Research and Development for the National Institute on Community Innovations
The PLP (Personal Learning Planner) is a web-based work environment that is envisioned as a place for students to take charge of their own learning, receive help from trusted advisors and friends in planning and making high quality artifacts that demonstrate what they know and can do, and build collections and electronic portfolios of their work to share with others. It allows parents to join the conversations and act as co-advisors with teachers, community mentors, and experts. The artifacts created by students can be linked with national, state, and local standards; can be validated by feedback from advisors, including feedback using rubrics. Students can also be surveyed as can their advisors and the results can be aggregated and displayed for a variety of groups, allowing schools to better understand and serve groups of students.
Thoughts About Professional Development from Roxanne Wilson - Assistant Superintendent SAU # 24
Thoughts about Professional Development (Roxanne Wilson, Assistant Superintendent SAU # 24, March 9, 2003)
There has been a shift in the way educators think about Professional Development. It is more than just meeting recertification requirements or what we used to call “clock hours.” It is a crucial part of professional life and should be linked to individual and student improvement and development. SAU #24 is involved in continuous improvement efforts that keep the focus on high expectations and performance of students. The purpose of professional development is to provide this continuous improvement of teacher instruction and student learning.
The shift in professional development practices is the balance between individual development and development of the organization. SAU #24 Professional Development Committee believes that a supportive culture can be built whereby professional communities can collaborate, experiment, and learn together. Activities to promote building a professional learning community include finding shared time among staff in which to collaborate, supporting in-service opportunities through grants, and using data to inform our direction.
An example of this new shift in professional development is SAU #24’s curriculum alignment project. Using existing data, we looked at NHEIAP scores, existing curriculum, standards-based reforms, and concluded that our curriculum needed to be revised and updated. The schools set goals to revise and align their curriculum and each teacher needed to support this goal through their individualized professional development plan. We leveraged several grants to get the work done; Best School Grant, several Title Grants, as well as a Special Education Sliver grant. We developed a leadership team to direct this process and it included parents and community members, teachers and administrators. This curriculum process is long term, building systems change and new ways to work together. It is the foundation of more involved curriculum work at each of the schools this year. This curriculum benchmarking was a process that was based on need, involved team work, promoted ownership in the task, integrated funding sources, and provided us with the foundation for continued development.
DV Training by Cyndy Currier
Digital Video Training for PT3 Participants
Join the Fun - Learn about Video!
So many exciting lessons take place in our schools, whether they are K-12 or
higher educational institutions! Why not save those great lessons to video and
share within the wider educational community?
Anyone can take video but can you take video to tell your story that is really
effective? Do you know how to use your video camcorder to its fullest? Do you
know how to use audio to its best? Can you edit video? Can you prepare your
video so others can view it? This is a great opportunity to learn how to take
effective video (videography), how to edit your footage, and how to save your
movie and be able to share it with others.
From January to May, Project New Teachers II is sponsoring digital video
training sessions for PT3 participants, scheduled as an initial full day session
plus a second full day held about a month later. The goal of these sessions is
to help educators develop their skills using short video clips to tell a story
about classroom practice.
These workshops are especially designed for PT3 mentor teachers and higher
education faculty. Preference will be given to those who can work in pairs
(e.g., two teachers from one partner school or a teacher working with an IHE
faculty). You will attend the initial day with your partner to learn the "nuts
and bolts" of using the camera. Then you will have about a month to experiment
with the camera, so that on your second day of training you've got video footage
to edit.
Author:Cyndi Hurlbut
and Larry Restuccia School:A Collaborative Project with Center Woods Elementary School and New England College Organization:Center Woods Elementary School and New England College Credits:Debra Nitschke-Shaw, Director of Teacher Education
Meaghan Dube, preservice teacher, New England College
Lindsey Inman, preservice teacher, New England College
